The Andorians
by Bearthsong
Summary: Commander Shran and the crew of The Kumari are determined to follow Captain Archer and the Enterprise through the Triarian/Alien-built Star Portal. The Triars have allowed both Humans and Vulcans to come to their well-protected mining outpost. How dare those infernal pacifists bar entrance to the Andorian Imperial Guard?
1. Chapter 1: Follow the Enterprise!

4

 _ **The Andorians**_

A Fan Fiction story based upon the Universe created on the T.V. series "Star Trek: Enterprise, created by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, which was in turn based upon Gene Roddenberry's original "Star Trek".

 _ **Chapter One: Follow the Enterprise!**_

Commander Shran tapped his fingers on the arm of his command chair impatiently. What was taking the Pink-Skins so long to enter the Triarian Star Portal? Shran and his crew had been meticulously following the starship Enterprise, commanded by the Human Captain, Jonathan Archer, for days now. The third-hand cloaking device that they had bought from a gang of Orion pirates was not living up to its promise. His engineers had been working around the clock to try to apply the alien technology to _The Kumari,_ their warship of the Andorian Imperial Guard. They were having limited success, to put it mildly. The blasted technology allowed them a few minutes of invisibility at best, but that would not be enough to fool Archer. They had been obliged to follow the warp trail of the Human starship, traveling at the greatest distance possible from the _Enterprise_ without losing her position.

Shran's antennae on top of his head twitched irritably as the blue-skinned Commander reached for the comm button.

"Status?" he asked his engineer, for what must have been the twentieth time.

"Unchanged, Commander," the voice of his Chief Engineer, Ka'Jel Th'Rana, reported, "We keep blinking in and out. Those Green-Skin rogues who sold us this garbage technology ought to be blasted out of existence."

"Keep at it," he ordered Ka'Jel, "We just need it long enough to discover how Archer manages to access the Star-Portal. Those Triarian Fur-Skins are not going to be able to keep us out forever—especially not since they have the audacity to let in our enemies, the Vulcans!"

"Understood," the Engineer responded, "Ka'Jel out."

The Triars, a group of furry Ursine beings, had been hiding their secret base behind an alien Star Portal of some kind for centuries. The Triars were pacifists, and often hid behind other species' technical defenses because they did not have enough courage to fight intruders themselves. That, it seemed to Shran, was no doubt why they were allowing Vulcans in, but not Andorians. The Triars had been puppets of the Vulcans for centuries; the relatively primitive Triars had probably been taken in by the Vulcans' false sense of superiority. He thought that if he could just have access to one of their leaders, he could easily dupe the creature into allowing him access. From what he understood after reading the intelligence reports, the Triars had a mining outpost and a huge space station orbiting it. The outpost and station were known collectively as Kyarr, and it housed many species within its well-guarded perimeters.

Shran knew of only one Triar, and he was a portly, black-and-white diplomat known as Ambassador Cha'Kal. He had been in charge of conducting a torture session on Cha'Kal a number of years ago, when he was a young Lieutenant in the Imperial Guard. He had disliked the duty intensely, but he had followed orders nonetheless. Cha'Kal had annoyingly retained his sense of humor throughout the whole ordeal, and had offered him no information. He was finally freed by a group of Andorian peace protesters, who finally prevailed upon the government of Andoria to intervene on behalf of Cha'Kal and free him. Shran had been secretly relieved to have the torture duty end; and he had even apologized, albeit quietly, to the Triar for the shoddy treatment.

"That's fine," Cha'Kal had told him breezily as the protestors had wheeled him out on a gurney, "all in a day's work, eh, Shran?"

Cha'Kal had not fit the profile of the "cowardly pacifists"; in fact, he had shown tremendous valor under the threat of pain and death. Shran had respected him greatly for his courage, but he had not told anyone about his opinions on the matter. To do so would have been to mark himself as a "soft" officer who was not fit to command a cloud of insects. The Andorian Imperial Guard did not tolerate what it considered to be "too much compassion" in its soldiers. Compassion was considered a dangerous thing within the Imperial Guard, and Shran had needed to be careful to mask his as much as was possible given the various situations that he had been forced to deal with. His merciful attitude had, surprisingly, helped him to deal well with more than a few dangerous situations. Still, it would not do to let his crew think that he was some old grandmother who enjoyed caring for children and little animals. He needed to be fierce and ruthless, if it served his people. He had long since resolved to be gentle with other beings only if he and his world could gain from it in the long run. He knew he needed to remember that, because there had been times in the past when he had dropped his guard and forgotten to be a rotten ice-slug. It wasn't that honor wasn't important to Shran—indeed, it was one of the most important things that he had learned from his clan as a young boy. It was just that, when one worked for the Imperial Guard, one needed to be very careful not to lose the respect of the other officers.

"Shran!" A voice called over the intercom, from the Medical Bay. Shran sighed. It was the pesky little doctor of _The Kumari,_ Dr. Ra'Thel Ch'Soar. He was no doubt determined to be a pain in the backside again, this time over the group of prisoners that they had picked up on their last stop.

"What is it this time, Thel?" he asked, dropping his old friend's title and clan names, "I hope you aren't pampering the prisoners again?"

"I need you to come down here, now, Commander!" The physician pestered him, in a tone of voice that only Thel would dare to use with him.

"I cannot be at your beck and call all day long, you spoiled little Prince!" Shran shouted, pounding the arm of his command chair. Thel was from a very wealthy Andorian family and had been a friend of Shran's since childhood, but he often had a tendency to push his relationship with the Commander a little too far. He no doubt had a list of complaints about how the small creatures that were under his care had been treated during questioning by Shran's officers.

"I assure you, Commander, I am not bothering you for nothing. Please come down to the Medical Bay right now."

Shran growled, getting up reluctantly and moving towards the turbo-lift.

"Lieutenant Talas, please mind the bridge while I am kicking a certain physician's backside."

"Yes, Commander," Lt. Talas, Shran's tactical officer, replied, "And may I say that I think Thel needs more than just one kick to keep him in line. If you would prefer, I could go and administer my boot to his physiological elements."

"Thank you, Lieutenant, but I am in charge of boot-kicks around here," Shran told her.

Thel was what was known on Andoria as a "Ch'an" which was the name for the less aggressive "Beta-male" gender. Shran, on the other hand, was a Thaan, or "Alpha-male". Like most members of his gender, Shran was in a more powerful position than many of his Ch'an brothers. The two female genders, Zhens and Shens, were the sister counterparts to the Ch'ans and Thaans; but the females tended to differ from one another in a far more subtle way than did the two male genders. Lieutenant Talas was a Shen, as were most of the military females. Zhens tended to be the ones who took on more compassion-oriented caregiving tasks in Andorian society, as did their brother counterparts, the Ch'ans.

Ra'Thel Ch'Soar was one of the few Ch'ans on board The Kumari, and he took full advantage of it. Since there were no Zhens aboard the ship, the Thaans and Shens both vied for the affections of the Ch'ans. Thel knew that he was "in demand", so to speak, and so he pushed his limits with Commander Shran, often to their breaking point.

Shran strode furiously towards the Medical Bay, determined not to let Thel manipulate him with his infernal guilt trips. As he entered, a group of small, furry, one-eyed beings jumped at him, biting his shoulders, nose, and antennae. Shran shook them off in one motion, but they were back again within a couple of seconds. Thel allowed the intermittent attacks to occur a number of times before he herded the pink, armless, two-legged creatures back to their holding cell.

"My guests needed to let off a little steam after your goons man-handled them earlier today," Thel explained, "So I thought you deserved to be given a taste of your own medicine... _Commander_ Thy'lek Shran."

"You called me down just to have these little fur-flowers attack me?" Shran yelled, "I'll have you know, _Doctor_ Ra'Thel Ch'Soar, that I can have you thrown into the brig right here, and right now! I have other things that require my attention than babysitting these...stick-footed one-eyes!"

"Yes, that's the problem, Thy'lek," Thel argued, "You don't give them more than a passing thought, but they are intelligent, sentient beings; and you've been torturing them as though they were cave-flies!"

"We haven't been torturing them, Thel," Shran countered, "We've been questioning them. If we had tortured them, it would have killed them—they're not strong enough to withstand our methods."

"Are you telling me that your people haven't been hitting them? I've found more than a dozen bruises all over their little bodies, and I think it's disgusting! Are we Andorians nothing but bullies?"

"I _said_ we haven't been torturing them," Shran replied, "I didn't say we haven't administered some discipline. They are aboard an Andorian ship, and they need to learn respect for us."

"If we want them to respect us, Thy'lek," Thel replied a little more quietly, "perhaps we need to consider practicing respect ourselves."

"All right, Doctor!" Shran snarled impatiently, "Is that all? You had me leave my duties on the bridge in order to give me another one of your morally superior lectures?"

"No, that is not all," Thel informed him, "I have been learning how to communicate with these beings. They don't vocalize; rather, they use a complex series of foot-taps which function as a kind of a code. They use...something like a language of dance. It's very beautiful, and they were able to tell me more when I listened to them for a few moments than your people did after more than three hours of torture!"

"I told you, it was not torture!" Shran exploded, "Would you like me to give you a personal example of what torture is, Thel?"

"No, thank you," Thel taunted him, "But it's so kind of you to offer, my dear Thy'lek. No, what I wanted to tell you is that these beings know how to get into the...Star Door, or whatever you call it. They are aligned with the Triars, and they could have gotten us in much earlier, without us having to waste our time with rubbish cloaking technology from Orion Pirates. That way, we wouldn't have to sneak around spying on Archer and the _Enterprise._ Do you honestly think he hasn't noticed us following him by now?"


	2. Chapter 2: The Cyclopians

7

 _ **The Andorians**_

 _ **Chapter Two: The Cyclopians**_

Shran walked swiftly back to the bridge, this time accompanied by Dr. Thel and the furry little creatures. The strange beings scuttled in and around his feet like Andorian Snow Chickens, making soft tapping sounds as they went. Dr. Thel had re-configured the Universal Translator and was transferring the sounds onto a screen which he held tightly in his hand. He studied the screen intently as he followed his superior and the "One-Eyes", as Shran had taken to calling them.

"Status?" Shran barked out crisply as he strode onto the bridge and sat down in his command chair.

"The _Enterprise_ is hailing us again," Talas reported, "They want to know why we've been following them and why we haven't responded to their communications to us."

"All right, the game is finished," Shran conceded, "Put Archer on."

The main view-screen, which had been full of stars, gave way to the image of a middle-aged, brown-haired being in a blue uniform. Like many from his red-blooded species, Archer had light skin which reflected an almost pinkish tinge as opposed the greenish tinge of the Vulcans' skins. Shran had therefore nicknamed the Humans "the Pink-Skins", even though it was later identified by scientists to be a misnomer. Since their first encounter with Archer over a year ago, there had been many Humans that the Andorians had encountered whose skin color ranged from light tan to dark. Even so, Shran continued to use the nickname "Pink-Skins" in reference to Humans and so far they had tolerated it.

"We meet again, Pink-Skin," Shran greeted the Captain, "What can we do for you?"

"Hello, Shran," Archer returned the greeting in a somewhat sardonic tone, "I don't suppose you'd care to tell us why you've been following us in such a surreptitious fashion?"

"Following you...in a surreptitious fashion?" Shran feigned surprised indignation. "Why, Archer! Surely you don't think we'd do something as under-handed as that? We're simply here to offer you our protection. I believe I still owe you a few favors after you exposed the Vulcans' "Monastery"/spy-station at P'Jem. That was worth quite a few favors, I might add."

The first time that Shran had met Archer had been at a planetary outpost which hosted the Vulcan Monastery known as P'Jem. The first encounter with the Humans had not unfolded particularly well in the beginning. Shran had assumed that because Archer had with him a Vulcan science officer that he was in league with the Vulcan High Command—who, as it turned out, had been concealing within P'Jem a spy station and sensor array that was being used to spy on Andoria in great detail. Shran had beaten Archer because he had believed that Archer knew all about the sensor array; but Shran had been very wrong in his assumption about the Human Captain. In fact, Archer helped to expose the sophisticated spy equipment which the Vulcans were hiding under the guise of the Monastery. The Vulcan "monks" who had been at the Monastery "for the purpose of peaceful meditation and the purging of emotions" had lied to them about the intricate spy station that had been hidden beneath the catacombs of the monastery all along. Archer ordered his science officer, T'Pol, to run scans on the secret sensor array and to hand the scan records over to Shran. It was at this point Shran realized that the Humans were not completely loyal to their Vulcan allies, and in fact harbored quite a few disagreements towards the Vulcans over the way that they had controlled and patronized Humans on their own world. This was typical of the Vulcans, who under the High Command had become militaristic in their orientation. The same could be said of the Andorian Imperial Guard, but unlike that prestigious organization the Vulcan government hypocritically sought to hide _their_ militarism as they had done at P'Jem.

"Yes, you do owe us a few favors, Shran," Archer was saying, "Unfortunately, however, I can't count spying on us as one of them. I thought that, at P'Jem, you were against spying...at least, you were when it was the Vulcans who were involved in the nasty deed."

"Archer!" Shran replied, putting on his best 'falsely-offended' face, "Surely you don't count us in the same category as those Vulcan ruffians at P'Jem? We were only testing out a piece of equipment that was sold to us by a group of...entrepreneurs, you might say."

"Yes," Archer replied, continuing to humor him, "We noticed your ship blinking in and out of existence like Christmas lights on a winter evening."

The translator did not adequately decipher the word "Christmas" and so Shran did not understand the cultural reference. He did, however, catch the hint of irony in Archer's voice and he felt slightly embarrassed.

"You've been following our warp trail, Commander," Archer said bluntly, finally tiring of their little game, "Why didn't you just communicate with us directly and ask us what we were doing? We would have told you straight away."

Shran's antennae drooped slightly in response to Archer's mild chastisement. Indeed, he felt foolish to have gone to all this trouble simply to hide from the man who had immediately handed over to him the scan records of the Vulcan sensor array at P'Jem. He was, however, Andorian; and the Andorian people were not accustomed to trusting outsiders. He knew that he would need to drop all pretences, though, if he were to find out anything from Archer about the Triarian Star Portal. The Humans valued honesty.

"My apologies, Captain," Shran finally responded, "I should have known better than to hide from you. We would like to enter the Star Portal after you, if you are able to convince the Triars to let you through..."

"We have recently established contact with a species known as the Triars," Archer conceded, "and they told us about this Star Portal. It's actually more of a protective gateway, though. The Triars are pacifists and they want to keep out any people they believe might want to do them harm. We've been trying to convince them that Humans have changed over the centuries, and that we're not as brutal and blood-thirsty as we used to be. I believe they've been hearing stories about us from the Vulcans."

"Untrue stories, no doubt," Shran replied, "We don't know the Triars well, but we do know that they are very naive to trust the Vulcans...our information suggests that they will let Vulcan ships in to dock at their space station and outpost, but they will not let in the Imperial Guard of Andoria! We are rather offended by that. I don't suppose we could prevail upon you to put in a few good words to those fur-skinned peace-lovers about your Andorian friends? We do, after all, have many pacifists on Andoria."

Beside the Captain, Shran could hear the voice of Archer's science officer, T'Pol, warning him against speaking on their behalf. Shran tapped his fingers in irritation. T'Pol had helped Archer to expose the spy station at P'Jem and had thus proven herself worthy of some trust; but she was still Vulcan and therefore subject to the usual arrogant assumptions of her species towards his.

"I hope Subcommander T'Pol is telling you only the most marvelous things about us," Shran interjected into their conversation.

"Of course, Commander," Archer replied, "As always. What else is there but marvelous things to say about the Andorian Imperial Guard? As a matter of a fact, we've already mentioned your interest to the Triars—I hope you don't mind. We thought that, since you were following us so intently, you probably had some interest in the Portal. We've been in conversation with a Triarian diplomat named Ambassador Cha'Kal. He's gone ahead to talk to his people back at the Space Station/outpost known as Kyarr. He thinks that we will be allowed entry—apparently, the Triars know about Earth from the Vulcans and have wanted to establish their own diplomatic relations with us for quite a while now. The Vulcans have been telling him that we're not yet ready for contact, but we disagree. We believe we're as ready for contact with the Triars as we'll ever be."

Shran snorted. "That's ridiculous—the Vulcans preventing you from establishing relations with a group of pacifists! They've been keeping us away from this area for some time, too. We want to know why; and what is this great interest that they have in the Triars? The Vulcans aren't becoming involved with a primitive ursine species because they want to socialize with them!"

"T'Pol says that the Triars produce in their mining facilities a great many crystals and minerals that are of use to the rest of the galaxy, and so it isn't just the Vulcans who want to be their friends. Apparently, they aren't as primitive as you think, Shran. They are said to possess an impressive array of Defensive Shielding technologies which can keep almost any attacking vessel at bay. They have no weapons on board their vessels, but they do have extremely strong shields to protect themselves. The Shields are apparently made from a crystalline substance found on the planetary outpost of Kyarr."

"Aha," Shran replied, "And I suppose the Imperial Guard is to be kept away from these impressive technologies?"

"Perhaps if you spoke with them honestly, they might start to develop a direct relationship with you as opposed to with a third party. From what I know of the Triars so far, I believe that they appreciate the straight-forward approach..."

As Archer was speaking, the One-Eyes that Thel had brought with him to the bridge were beginning to become restless. They were hopping about and jumping up on the crew members. Lt. Talas swept a couple of them off her console with one sweep of her arm. Another one was walking all over Helmsman Keval's equipment, and biting his antennae whenever he tried to push the creature away.

"Commander!" Navigator Tholos turned around, infuriated by the little gremlins that were nipping at his backside, "Permission to kill these little pests?"

"Denied!" Shran whispered back to Tholos, and then returned his attention back to Archer on the screen.

He realized that it had been a mistake to let the scampering vermin onto the bridge and he hissed at Thel to get the beasts under control. Archer had stopped speaking and was frowning at the Andorian Commander. A blue-furred One-Eye had jumped on top of Shran's head and was peering beseechingly at Archer.

"You have some visitors on board your vessel, I see, Shran," Archer noted, "And they look very much like the beings that Cha'Kal described to us. He said that there were a number of them who had gone missing. He was afraid someone might have kidnapped them in order to find out about the Shield technology...he said they were called 'Cyclopians'."

"Yes...the One-Eyes," Shran admitted, wishing that he could beam the little trouble-makers over to Archer's ship, "They are our guests. They have come with us willingly, to show us to the Star Portal so that we can ask the Triars—honestly and directly, of course—for entry."

"Liar!" Thel whispered into his ear in a voice so soft that only Shran could hear it. The doctor then quickly busied himself with trying to disengage the blue One-Eye from the Commander's head.

"Call me that again, Doctor, and I'll have you whipped," Shran whispered back at him in an equally soft voice.

"Cha'Kal is looking for these beings," Archer continued, "and if you were to come forward with them, Shran...I might be willing to put in those 'few good words' for you to the Triars."

"Come forward with them?" Shran asked in mock-surprise, "Why, of course. They haven't been kidnapped! We invited them on board just a few days ago, when we encountered them back at the Ventronn Star-Stop."

"Yes, we encountered them there, too. They were traveling with the Triars and had stopped off at Ventronn in order to purchase some equipment for their research. After we learned from Cha'Kal that they were missing, we put our linguistics expert, Ensign Hoshi Sato, to work learning the language codes of these people. She's been sending out a call as you've been speaking with us and she's been receiving cries of distress. That could be why you're having so much trouble keeping your ' _guests_ ' entertained right now."

Shran lowered his gaze slightly, but forced himself to continue with the fibs. It wouldn't do to have Archer think that he was a kidnapper.

"Captain, I have no idea why the little beings would be distressed," Shran retorted, "We've shown them every courtesy. But...I have an idea! Since your communications expert has been working so hard to learn the language of these creatures, perhaps I could turn them over to you as a gesture of goodwill. Please assure the Triars that we meant no harm to the One-Eyes. My Medical Officer, Dr. Ra'Thel Ch'Soar, has been attempting to learn their language as well, and has been their guardian while they've been here."

"Thank you, Commander Shran," Archer replied, "I'm sure the Triars and the Cyclopians will very much appreciate your 'gesture of goodwill'. I know I will...one favor down, several more to go. Can you have the Cyclopians stand still in one spot long enough for us to beam them over to the Enterprise?"

Shran looked around the bridge as the creatures rushed about in excitement, hopping on top of equipment and annoying the crew.

"Getting them to stand still could be a bit of a problem," Shran told him, "But my Medical Officer, Dr. Ra'Thel, is going to try. Aren't you, Thel? I also think it would be prudent if Dr. Ra'Thel could accompany the beings over to your ship. He has been spending a great deal of time with them, and he knows all about their care. He could confer with your physician, Dr. Phlox."

"That would be fine, Shran. We await their arrival—signal us when you're ready. Archer out."

The screen faded back to the sight of stars amongst the blackness of space. In the centre of the screen the form of the Enterprise was clearly visible, waiting expectantly for the signal to beam the pesky creatures over to it.

"Yes, that's right, Shran!" Thel called out as he herded the beings over to one spot, "You order me to go over to the Enterprise and defend Andoria's disgrace! Dr. Phlox will have me run up one side of his Medical Bay and down the other! I've met him at many an interplanetary Medical conference and I can tell you he takes a dim view of physicians who participate in the torture and bullying of patients."

"But you didn't participate, Thel, my dear friend," Shran soothed him, "You've been the advocate of these One-Eyes since they've come on board. They trust you, and that's why I'm sending you along to keep them calm. As well, I'd like you to offer an official explanation to the Humans about why the One-Eyes are not quite in prime condition."

"An explanation, Thy'lek?" Thel growled, "You mean, an explanation such as ' _we beat and tortured these poor defenseless creatures, but we're the Andorian Imperial Guard, so live with it'?_ I'll bet the Humans will be very impressed by our tremendous sense of compassion."

"No, Thel," Shran replied quietly, "I mean, an explanation such as, ' _they received the bruises from Orion pirates, who were attempting to kidnap them when we arrived upon the scene and rescued them'."_

"Yes, that ought to convince them of our innocence," Thel returned sardonically, "I can hear Phlox's response to that one ringing in my ears right now."

"Never mind Phlox!" Shran snapped, "It's Archer that we need to convince."

"Well, we won't convince him by lying!" Thel cried, "Why do we always put ourselves into these ridiculous situations? What do we hope to achieve by these dishonorable actions?"

"We have been acting on orders from the Imperial Guard!" Shran exclaimed angrily, "They want access to that infernal Portal...now!"

"So talk with the Triars, Shran," Thel whispered, "We need to drop pretences and start negotiating in earnest. These are pacifists that we're dealing with, not Klingons! We only make ourselves look like foolish bullies when we do this sort of thing. And I know for a fact, my Thy'lek, that you are above this kind of behavior. You are better than this, by my birth upon the Great Moon of Ice!"

Shran's antennae drooped slightly, and he forced them to stand upright. He knew that the blasted little healer was right, as usual; but he did not want to give in to him too easily. He was still trying to convince the top warriors of the Imperial Guard that he had not gone "soft" after the last time he had acted out of his compassion. He had been ordered to destroy an Orion vessel, but he had let it go because there were children on board. In that particular situation, he believed that he had acted correctly, but there were some amongst the leadership who had questioned his decision. They blamed him for allowing key Orion criminals to escape justice, and there were times that he blamed himself for that as well.

"I know," Thel whispered softly to him, "You're afraid to appear 'soft'. It's your fear and your pride that interfere with your rational thinking process, Thy'lek."

Shran grabbed hold of Thel's arm and gripped it tightly.

"You will do as you are ordered, Thel," he snarled, keeping his voice low so that the others would not hear, "You will take these One-Eyes and you will proceed to the beam-out point near the Hangar deck. And, my dear Thel, don't let me _ever_ hear you question my thinking process again. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir, of course," Thel capitulated, "my abject apologies. I am, of course, nothing but a silly little Ch'an. Don't listen to me. I will prepare my charges for beam-out, and I will accompany them as you have asked."

"And you will provide an acceptable explanation for their injuries?"

"Yes, my Superior. I will lie through my teeth for the Imperial Guard, as always."


	3. Chapter 3: The Dance of Justice

8

 _ **The Andorians**_

 _ **Chapter Three: The Dance of Justice**_

"Arrested?" Shran stormed at the Captain, enraged, "What do you mean, my Medical Officer is to be arrested, Archer?"

Jonathan Archer heaved a heavy sigh as he leaned back in his chair. Shran was on his feet, ready to tear Archer's "Briefing Room" apart. He had come over to the _Enterprise_ the minute he had heard that Thel was being held in Archer's brig.

"I'm sorry, Shran," Archer attempted to console him, "But Cha'Kal has informed us that when the Cyclopian leadership heard what had happened to the group that you beat up, they immediately demanded the arrest of Ra'Thel. Cha'Kal has come out here on an emergency diplomatic mission, and he has some very angry Cyclopian leaders with him. They are not happy about the way that their people were treated by yours, Shran—and can you really blame them? How would you react if someone did to your people what you did to that group of Cyclopians?"

"Yes, but...it's ridiculous to arrest Ra'Thel! He's the one who has been advocating for them and caring for them while they were with us. He's been the one who's been constantly busting my blue behind because we...er...disciplined them."

"Yes, I remember your form of "discipline" back at P'Jem," Archer reminded him, "Your people can be pretty brutal, Commander. But Ra'Thel is different from a lot of the Andorians we've encountered. Dr. Phlox tells me he acts as your conscience with regard to prisoners who are brought on board your ship for interrogation."

"Yes, you could say that," Shran conceded, "But we don't usually make a habit of beating people on board ship. We do that on-world, and only when absolutely necessary for the security of our planet. I try to keep Ra'Thel out of that part of our work, because he does tend to have great compassion for the weak ones."

"And that's the problem, Shran," Archer replied, "It's because Ra'Thel is a man of compassion that they want to arrest him and not you. Cha'Kal and the Cyclopians have just arrived, my people have informed me. We can explain in more detail when they get here, but you'll need to tread very carefully if you want to have a chance of saving Ra'Thel from a Kyarr prison. This is a very delicate situation for both of us."

"Archer," Shran said quietly, "You could save Ra'Thel by refusing to turn him over to the authorities. If the Cyclopians want justice, tell them that they can have me. I'm the one who's responsible for this...I'm the Commander."

"It's not quite that easy, Shran," Archer told him, "You know you're not going to submit to Cyclopian authority if we give you back your man. I'd like to turn custody of Ra'Thel over to you, but if I do that, I'll be denying the Cyclopians their justice."

"Justice?" shouted Shran, "It's not justice to arrest Ra'Thel—he's the last person who deserves to be arrested!"

Archer's reply was cut off by a buzz at the door. The Captain granted access, and Subcommander T'Pol, Archer's Vulcan Science officer, stepped forward.

"Ambassador Cha'Kal is here, Captain. He and the Cyclopians are ready to begin the meeting."

"Please invite them in, T'Pol," Archer said, standing up in order to greet the guests.

A big black and white, bear-like being entered the room, dressed minimally in a blue loin cloth and vest. He was accompanied by a white-pink Cyclopian who was wearing a green kerchief on its head-body. A gaggle of other One-Eyes entered the room, including the group that Shran's officers had beaten. The One-Eyes were followed by Archer's Communication Officer, Ensign Hoshi Sato, who sat down amongst the little creatures with a Universal Translation board. Finally, Ra'Thel entered the room accompanied by Dr. Phlox. As he entered, the Cyclopians began to dance on the rectangular table, thumping their bird-like legs in a drumming sound that was surprisingly loud for such small creatures. As Ra'Thel sat down, the dancing stopped suddenly.

Archer and T'Pol sat down to join the group.

"Captain," T'Pol began, "And Commander Shran. In addition to Ambassador Cha'Kal of the Triar-Vulcanian Pacific Alliance, I would like to introduce to you the Leader of the Cyclopian Circle, First Chief Zyzz. She is here to obtain justice for her people. The Cyclopians communicate through a complex array of tapping sounds, which form a language code. Ensign Sato will translate their code through her communication board. She has programmed it to verbalize the tapping codes into our language form."

"Thank you, T'Pol," Archer acknowledged his officers, "And Hoshi. We would very much like to arrive at a solution to this problem which is agreeable to everyone concerned."

Chief Zyzz hopped forward. She began to dance, tapping her feet lightly at first, and then with increasingly greater strength until the table that she was dancing upon began to sound like a drum.

"Dance!" she tapped, as Hoshi's board translated, "Dance the Anger of Big Blue! Dance the Compassion of the Small-Blue...dance justice for the Cyclopian people!"

The other One-Eyes began to hop about wildly with their Chief, as Zyzz whirled about like a mad snowstorm. Finally, they stopped.

Shran frowned, puzzled. _What on Andoria were the silly little things saying?_

"I don't understand," Shran admitted at last, "What do they mean, Cha'Kal?"

"Hey, Shran," Cha'Kal greeted the Commander, "It's been a long time since I saw you. Still up to your old tricks, huh?"

Shran was in no mood for Cha'Kal's sarcastic remarks. He had already apologized to the furry bear for the torture session that he had been forced to endure at his hands ten years ago when Shran was just a young lieutenant in the Imperial Guard. He did not particularly want to re-visit that unfortunate episode right now, especially with Thel's freedom hanging in the balance. He would, as Archer had warned him, need to tread carefully in this situation.

"Cha'Kal," Shran returned the greeting, "I hope you can reason with these One-Eyes. You remember my Medical Officer, Ra'Thel, from your...stay with us, do you not?"

"Oh, yeah," Cha'Kal replied, as if remembering an old family clan gathering, "Thel was the guy that treated my wounds, and spoke on my behalf to you. Can't forget him...he was the guy who got those pacifists to demand my release. I never got a chance to thank you for that, Thel."

Thel said nothing, but kept his gaze averted towards the floor.

"Then you realize, Cha'Kal, Thel doesn't deserve to be incarcerated for this?"

"Sure, I realize it, Shran," Cha'Kal conceded, "but the Cyclopians see this a little differently from me and you...and as the Ambassador of a pacifist organization, I can't just sweep their concerns under the rug."

"My communication officer, Hoshi Sato, has been interacting a great deal with the Cyclopians over the com channel," Archer interjected, "I believe she can best articulate the Cyclopians' position on this."

"Yes," Hoshi replied somewhat nervously, "I've been in communication with the group of Cyclopians that have been staying with Dr. Phlox, as well as Chief Zyzz of the Cyclopian Circle, as I've been learning the Cyclopian language code. If I understand them correctly, they have explained to me that the Leaders of their people are chosen based upon their level of compassion and love. They are a very loving people, but they don't take kindly to people who engage in acts of violence. To them, such people are very weak and cowardly. They do not acknowledge the leadership of any person who does that. In their culture, the most compassionate person is the one who is automatically afforded the leadership. The Cyclopians don't see Shran as the Leader of the Andorian crew—they see Ra'Thel as Leader, because he is the most compassionate one amongst the Andorian crew of _The Kumari_."

"But then...why do they want to arrest Thel, if that is the case?" Shran asked, too worried about his friend to be offended that the Cyclopians thought of himself and his crew as " _weak and cowardly_ ".

"Because," Dr. Phlox, Archer's Denobulan physician interjected, his tone full of righteous anger, "Ra'Thel didn't stop what you people did to the Cyclopians. He may have protested, and he may have cared for their bodies after the fact, but he essentially did nothing to halt the process."

"That is because he did not have the power to do so!" Shran exploded, forgetting his determination to "tread carefully", "Within the Imperial Guard, it is the strong and powerful who make the decisions, not small weaklings like Thel! Can you not explain that to them, Ensign Sato?"

"I can try," Sato replied as she re-configured her board to produce the same tapping noises that Cyclopians made with their spindly little feet.

While Hoshi Sato was involved in communication with the Cyclopians, Shran continued to make his case for Thel.

"Don't you see?" he cried in frustration, "Thel is innocent! He should not be punished for a crime that he did not commit!"

"As far as the Cyclopians are concerned, he did commit the crime by refusing to stop it," Phlox responded, "He is thought to be your leader. You, Commander, are considered by them to be a colossal idiot who does not know what he is doing. These people believe Thel had the moral authority to stop the crime."

Shran pounded the table with his fist. He was in no mood to be lectured by a self-righteous Denobulan.

"And what about you, Doctor Phlox? You know Ra'Thel from those blasted Medical conferences that you healers love to attend. You could stop him from being arrested, since you seem to be so morally superior!"

"I do not consider myself to be morally superior to anyone," Phlox defended himself, "but I do strive to align my actions with my values. Yes, I know Ra'Thel, and I know that his values as a physician do not permit him to stand by idly while defenseless beings are being beaten to a pulp! Why, our last conference was on Medical Ethics, and I had understood that Thel was in agreement with the statement of principles that we created there!"

"You do not know what you are talking about, Phlox!" Shran retorted, "You do not serve the Imperial Guard. Thel has been more principled than any of you would ever be in his position. He is of the ch'an gender, and therefore relatively powerless in our society..."

"Don't make excuses for me, Shran!" Thel interrupted his Commander, "Phlox is right. I should have been stronger. I should have found a way to stop you."

"You know that was impossible, Thel! If you had become too objectionable, you would have ended up in the brig, as you have on many occasions. Thel knows how far he can push me with these things, and he tries to stay within those perimeters. If he was not a member of our crew, I can tell you the abuses would be far worse. He acts as our conscience—our restraint. But he can only do so within the limited area of jurisdiction that a physician possesses in our society—and he has even less power within a military organization such as the Imperial Guard. You all must know that!"

Silence greeted Shran's statement, broken only by the tap-tap-tapping of the Cyclopians, who were still engaged in conversation with Hoshi.

"Yes, Shran," Archer finally conceded, "We know that, but the Cyclopians don't see it in quite the same way. They do have a right to justice."

"And I am committed to giving them that justice," Thel announced to them, his voice shaking slightly, "I will go with them and receive whatever punishment they deem necessary. I owe them that, after what they endured at our hands."

"You will _not_ go with them, Thel!" Shran ordered him, "I forbid it. We will fight them on this. I demand that my Medical Officer be granted his freedom here and now, or there will be repercussions. Archer, I would highly recommend that you call a halt to these proceedings and allow Thel to return to _The Kumari_ with me. I would not like to use force..."

"Don't try threatening me, Shran," Archer replied hotly, "You were the one who got your officer into this mess in the first place! You bear some responsibility in providing justice to these people."

"My responsibility is to my own people!" Shran growled, "And when one of them is threatened, I take it as a threat to Andoria. I don't want to fight you, Archer, but you are the only other ship with fire power around here, and I wouldn't want to be forced into blasting the pacifists' ship to bits!"

"Stop it, Shran!" Thel arose angrily, pounding his own fist upon the table, "Don't you go around bullying Archer and the others as you did all of the other prisoners we've ever taken! You think we show strength when we pound our fists and tantrum like toddlers? I have had an opportunity in the last couple of hours to see our species through the eyes of another. If I was not ashamed to be Andorian before, I certainly am now."

"You have no cause for shame, Thel," Shran reassured his friend, his tone softening, "If anyone has caused shame to Andoria, it is me. Archer—what if I apologized to these...creatures. Would that have any effect? I would, of course, prefer to resolve this dispute peacefully."

"One minute you're threatening to blow us to bits, and the next you're offering to apologize!" Archer exclaimed, "Shran, look. I don't want to turn Ra'Thel over to the authorities at Kyarr, but I may not have any choice unless you can work something out with the Cyclopians. In order to do that, though, you're going to have keep your emotions at bay and remain calm."

"You know something, Archer?" Shran replied sardonically, "You're beginning to sound like a Vulcan."

Archer gave Shran a pained look at that particular insult.

"Listen to Archer, Shran," Cha'Kal added, "You don't want to get on the bad side of the Cyclopians. They could have your people barred from the Kyarr outpost for eternity. They may seem small and powerless to you, but let me tell you, they make a strong noise when they all dance together."

Hoshi cleared her throat in an attempt to return their attention to herself and the Cyclopians. They clearly adored her, for there were two of them perched on either shoulder, while one sat on her lap. The Chief of the One-Eyes made it clear that Archer was the second favorite by going over to him and jumping on top of his head. She nestled down, making it look as though Archer was wearing a pink-and-white wig.

"You may proceed, Hoshi," Archer told her, glancing up ruefully at the big ball of fur on his head.

"This is the message that the Cyclopians would like me to relay," Hoshi said uneasily, exchanging glances with the Captain, "We, the Cyclopians, acknowledge Cha'Kal of the Triars to be a respected leader; among the Denobulans, we acknowledge Dr. Phlox as leader of his world, since we have no other Debobulans with which to compare him; among the Andorians of _The Kumari_ , we have already acknowledged Ra'Thel as leader of his crew; among the Vulcans of the _Enterprise,_ we acknowledge T'Pol since she is the only Vulcan on board this ship; and among the Humans...we...uh...they...you see, Captain...the Cyclopians acknowledge Hoshi Sato as the Leader of the crew of the Enterprise."

Hoshi spoke the last sentence of her translation quickly, as if to get it over with. She paused to give Archer an apologetic look.

"Well, Archer," Shran exclaimed, "It looks as though both of us are out of a job, now!"

"I see," Archer replied, "It would seem, Hoshi, that you're in the Captain's chair during these negotiations."

"What?" she protested, "Captain, I agreed to act as translator, not negotiator!"

"I'm afraid the Cyclopians have voted you in, Hoshi," Dr. Phlox consoled her, "but at least you haven't been promoted to World Leader, like me!"

"Please continue with the translation, Ensign Sato," Archer urged her, "Don't worry about the rest."

"Yes, Captain. 'We, the Cyclopians, hereby give all the Leaders present at this meeting notice that we have called for the arrest of Dr. Ra'Thel Ch'Soar of Andoria. He neglected his duty to protect our members while they were under his care, and instead let the foolish barbarian Shran make all the decisions with regard to this. We do acknowledge that Shran is not the most foolish amongst his people, but he is not considered by us to be mature enough to be left in charge of the well-being of our people. We also acknowledge the fact that Ra'Thel has apologized to us and confessed his guilt. This apology, however, is no substitute for justice. We ask Cha'Kal of the Triars to take Ra'Thel to a Kyarrian court and try him there. If they also find him guilty, we ask that he be given a prison sentence of no less than ten years."

"Ten years?!" Shran shouted, jumping up from his seat, "That's outrageous!"

"If I may continue, Commander," Hoshi told him, her voice becoming firmer than it was before, "We ask that all the other leaders here support us in this determination. We will take any dissent as a vote in favor of violence and hatred. We ask, therefore, that all who condemn violence and uphold justice step up to this table and dance."

Archer and T'Pol looked at each other, uncertain as to what they were being asked to do.

"You mean...they want us all to get up on the table and start dancing?" Archer asked incredulously, "We don't know their dance-stepping language..."

"Just dance, Captain, Subcommander T'Pol," Hoshi ordered them, jumping up on the table herself and performing a tap dance, "Any dance! They just want to know that we support them."

Archer appeared hesitant for a moment, before overcoming his Human reserve and stepping up to the table. As he began to dance a rather clumsy jig, Phlox jumped up to the table-turned-stage, urging T'Pol to get up there with him.

"I trust that no one here will inform the Vulcan High Command of this action," she said to them with a trace of irony in her voice, before beginning her own graceful Vulcan dance. Shran could only stare at the Vulcan Science Officer agog as she waved her arms and hips about like a tree in the wind. To his horror, he saw that Ra'Thel himself had hopped up on the table and was performing a dance somewhat similar to T'Pol's dance.

"C'mon, Shran," the rotund Cha'Kal said to the Andorian Commander, holding his paw out to him, "Let's dance. This may be your only opportunity to prove to the Cyclopians that you're not a complete moral ignoramus."

Shran was speechless. Before he knew what he was doing, he had grabbed hold of Cha'Kal's furry paw and was up on the table doing the Andorian Storm-Step while the Triarian Ambassador weaved his rather large belly back and forth in imitation of the Orion Serpentine Dance. The Cyclopians joined them, and they spent several minutes engaged in this absurd gesture of support for peace and justice in the Universe.


	4. Chapter 4: A War Without Weapons

13

 _ **The Andorians**_

 _ **Chapter Four: A War Without Weapons**_

Archer's Chief Engineer, Commander "Trip" Tucker, was examining the broken table leg carefully.

"Man, Cap'n," he finally said, "That must have been some dance you guys had up there on that table. If you wanted to party with the Cyclopians, why didn't you just do it on the floor?"

"Because the Cyclopians wanted us to dance on the table," Archer replied ruefully, rubbing his neck and back.

"We were honor-bound to do it, Commander Tucker," Shran explained, "We would have been supporting violence and hatred if we hadn't...and, of course, no one wants to support that, do they? So, we all made fools of ourselves for those infernal One-Eyes. The little rogues have been far more trouble than they're worth."

After several minutes of dancing, the end of the table that Shran, Cha'Kal, and Archer had been dancing on had given way and the three of them had gone tumbling down to the floor. Commander T'Pol, of course, had leapt off the table neatly when the mishap occurred, landing in a prim and proper fashion on her feet, as did Ra'Thel. Phlox, Hoshi, and the Cyclopians had been dancing on the far end of the table and had thus escaped bodily injury.

Dr. Phlox had finished his scans of the trio and announced in a merry manner that none of them had any injury more serious than "bruised pride". He had then escorted Ra'Thel back to his temporary holding cell. Shran knew that it was time for him to return to _The Kumari_ , but he hated to go back without Thel. The crew would be likely to strangle him if the little doctor wasn't with him when he returned. Although the crew of the Andorian warship tended to take Thel for granted when he was there, they were all missing him now that he was not. Shran stepped aside for a moment to contact Lt. Talas.

"Talas here," she answered, "What news, Commander?"

"Thel is going to be staying with Archer for a few days," Shran told her, "Let the other crew members know so that they won't be too disappointed when I return without him."

"Yes, Sir," Talas responded. Shran could hear the disappointment in her voice, and he could not blame her for it because he felt the same way.

"Even T'Pol was up there dancing?" Trip Tucker was saying to his Captain as Shran rejoined them, "You should have gotten a picture of that, Cap'n! I wish I'd been here to see it."

"I assure you, it was quite a sight, Commander Tucker," Shran said, "She's a beautiful dancer, I must say...as is my Medical Officer, believe it or not. Captain Archer, I wonder if I might have a word alone with Thel before I go back to my ship?"

"Of course, Shran," Archer told him, "Trip, can you escort Commander Shran to his officer's cell? I need to confer with Ambassador Cha'Kal about our entry through the Star Portal. Shran, I'll let you know about the Triars' decision as to whether they will allow _The Kumari_ entrance."

"They must allow us entrance, Captain!" Shran replied urgently, "You must convince them! I cannot just stand by while my Medical Officer is being tried in Alien Territory..."

"I'll try, Shran," Archer returned in a weary fashion, "But you may need to be willing to make some concessions. _The Enterprise_ is going to have to take its weapons off-line, or the Triars won't let us in. My Armory Officer, Lt. Reed, doesn't like it one bit, but it's their law for every vessel that enters into the Kyarrian territory. Once you travel through the Portal, you are under the auspices of a pacifist group which calls itself the Triar-Vulcanian Pacific Alliance."

"Yes, it's the latter part of that particular Pacific Alliance that disturbs me," Shran said worriedly, "I might be willing to take my weapons off-line for Cha'Kal, but I'd like to know who's behind the Vulcan leadership. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the Vulcan High Command is duping the Triars into believing that they're pacifists—which you and I know they definitely are not."

"From what Cha'Kal has told us, these people are known as Vulcanians, not Vulcans. They are members of the same species, but they've been living on the Triarian worlds that are found past the Portal. Apparently, they're a little easier to deal with than the Vulcans from Vulcan. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go and find T'Pol and Cha'Kal."

"Vulcans are Vulcans, Captain," Shran called to him as he departed, "Do you not agree, Commander Tucker?"

Tucker shrugged as he led the Andorian Commander in the direction of the brig.

"I think the Cap'n wants to give these Vulcanian people a chance before he judges them too harshly," he said, "Although T'Pol seems a bit worried about them. She doesn't mind the Triars, but she's kind of suspicious of Vulcans who don't follow the party line."

"She may be right," Shran warned, "I would tell your Captain to 'tread carefully' as he said to me."

Tucker nodded as he stopped in front of the Security Holding Station. He left instructions with the Security Guard to escort Shran to the transporter room when he was ready to go.

"Will do, Commander Shran," Tucker responded to the Andorian's warning, "Just get Ensign Bryant here to buzz me when you're ready to go. I'll see you off to your ship."

Shran bowed his head to the Engineering Officer, and Bryant permitted him access to the cell. When he arrived, Thel was sitting cross-legged on a bench. He looked as though he had been in deep contemplation.

"Thel," Shran murmured gently to him as he approached, "My dear friend. We're going to get you out of this mess, one way or another."

"I don't want you to get me out of this mess, Thy'lek," Thel replied sadly, "I've had an opportunity to consider my service to The Imperial Guard while I've been here, and I realize that I just can't do it anymore."

"Has that blasted Phlox been putting you on another guilt trip about your supposed culpability in this business? Thel, what happened to the One-Eyes is not your fault. It is mine...don't give up hope on us yet. Give me some time—I and the crew will come up with something. We love you, even if you are an annoying little pain-in-the-rear."

"Yes, Thy'lek, I suppose you all do, in your own ways. And no, Phlox hasn't been putting me on a guilt trip—not much of one, anyways. He was angry with me at first, particularly when I lied to him for you about how the Cyclopians received their injuries. Unfortunately, I am not as good a liar as you, and he knew right away; but once I spoke honestly with him about what happened, he became far more supportive of me than I deserved under the circumstances."

"He knows what a kind-hearted soul you have, my Thel," Shran said to him, running a hand gently down his face, "and it is I who do not deserve the loyal support that you have given to me over the years. I have expressed my gratitude to you so little."

"Yes," Thel agreed, "Well, you are a powerful Thaan with many responsibilities... while I am a little Ch'an-servant. It is hardly necessary to thank me for doing my duty."

"And yet, I do," Shran responded, "for I love you, little one...in my own stupid, bungling way."

"Thy'lek—you are anything but stupid. Bungling—perhaps. Stupid, no. You know what you must do in this situation, and blasting your way out of it will not suffice this time. You must learn to listen to these people, if they let you in. You may not like what they have to say, but we cannot learn only from those who tell us what we wish to hear."

"Don't leave us, Thel," Shran whispered, falling to his knees and holding the Ch'an's hand, "You are our conscience. What would we do without you?"

"Perhaps," Thel replied, running his own hand down the Commander's face, "You might learn to develop one of those within yourselves."

Shran lowered his head and clasped his hands around his face.

"I got you into this mess, Thel," he vowed, "and I promise that I will get you out of it."

Shran stood up straight, attempting to regain his 'Commander's' stance. He signaled Bryant that he was ready to leave, and turned to Thel.

"Good-bye for now, my friend," he called softly, "I will be returning for you soon."

Shran left the cell with a heavy heart. _Blast Thel and his infernal sense of ethics!_ He knew that he could not leave the healer alone with people like Phlox or Cha'Kal for long before he became brain-washed into accepting their moralistic world-views. In order to get Thel back, however, he would need to think and act as they did. From what he knew of high-handed moralists of any species, they tended to have a slight tendency towards hypocrisy. The Denobulans, for instance, were wonderful moral preachers but were hardly strangers to militarism and warfare. The same could be said of Humans, although Archer generally refrained from statements of superiority because of his world's obvious history of bloodshed and violence. As Shran entered the transporter room to beam back to his ship, Tucker met him at the platform.

"The Captain told me to tell you that Cha'Kal has agreed to let you in," he informed Shran, "Just so long as you're willing to take your weapons off-line while you're in Kyarrian territory."

"Infernal pacifists!" Shran muttered, annoyed.

"If it makes you feel any better, Commander, me and Lt. Reed aren't very happy about it, either," Tucker mused, "I mean, what do we do if we discover they aren't as peaceful as we thought?"

"I don't think Cha'Kal is leading us into a trap," Shran replied, "But I'm not so sure about those little fur-balls."

"They sure are cute little critters, aren't they?" Tucker commented as Shran stepped up to the energizing platform, "See you around, Shran. Energize."

As soon as he had materialized back on board _The Kumari_ , Shran ordered a meeting of his senior staff. He contacted Talas and told her to put Keval in charge of the bridge.

"Bring Tholos with you, contact Lt. Tarah and Chief Engineer Ka'Jel and meet me in the War Room," Shran commanded her, "We will also need Nurse Shal. She is now Chief Medical Officer while Thel is away."

As he strode to the War Room to await his staff, he worried about Lt. Tarah's reaction. She had recently been appointed Chief of Security after the old Chief had died in the line of duty. Old Thark had been a die-hard loyalist and would have supported his commands if he'd ordered him to skip merrily into a troop of Vulcans and hand out flowers. Lt. Tarah, on the other hand, was a true Shen warrior who tended to challenge the rules when she did not agree with them. He would need to be careful not to sound like a capitulating fool who gave in to the whims of pacifists.

When the officers had arrived and were seated, Shran told them what had happened, minus the dancing debacle.

"If he is tried and found guilty in the Kyarrian court, Thel could be imprisoned for the next ten years," Shran informed them, "so we must get through the Portal in order to be there with him while he faces the Triars' idiotic justice system."

"I can't believe that the Humans have gone along with this," Talas said, dismayed, "Thel would not harm a cave spider. Shran, we respect you as our Commander, but surely we cannot let this stand? The crew will mutiny if we do not get our Thel back."

"I know this is difficult," Shran told them, "But, for a little while at least, we must swallow our pride and go along with this. You all know Thel—he feels that he has gone against his principles in having allowed us to rough up the One-Eyes, and he is considering leaving the Imperial Guard."

"What?" cried Tholos, "He cannot leave the Imperial Guard, for he would be arrested for desertion. He still has ten more years on his service contract."

"Yes," Shran replied, "and ten years is the prison term that the One-Eyes wish to give him. He no doubt thinks that his choices are ten years in Military Prison or ten years in an alien one. We need to provide him with a third choice, and we cannot do that through aggression. We also want entry into the Portal in order to introduce the Andorian presence to the Triars. They have banned us from their mining outpost for too long, and the Vulcans have their grubby, green-blooded hands all over Kyarr. We must have access, and Cha'Kal has agreed to give us that access—on one condition."

"What condition is that, Commander?" Chief Engineer Ka'Jel asked warily.

Shran drew a deep breath before answering Ka'Jel's question.

"The condition is that we take our weapons off-line in order to enter into Kyarrian space. And we must leave them off during our entire stay there."

There was a shocked silence for a minute.

"Surely, you can't be serious, Commander?" Ka'Jel replied at last, "We're not going to comply with the Triars' unreasonable request! They are mere pacifists! What authority do they have over the Imperial Guard?"

"They have _moral_ authority," Shran told them, "And we have shown ourselves to be immoral bullies by beating the One-Eyes. The One-Eyes, and no doubt the Triars as well, do not respect violence of any kind. To them, it is a sign of weakness and cowardice. I intend to show them all that we Andorians are strong in our moral principles. We need to regain our honor in this regard, and in order to do that, we must show our courage by taking the weapons off-line. The _Enterprise_ has agreed to do the same; I know this sounds outrageous to you, as it does to me. But we must do it in order to be granted access to the Portal."

"Shran!" cried Talas, "As Tactical Officer, I must protest this action! It is most unwise. We would be at the mercy of any ship that has entered Kyarrian space—Human, Vulcan, Tellarite, or any other."

"And all of them will also have their weapons off-line," Shran countered, "Do you not see? We Andorians have been denied access because we are too proud to take down our weapons, even for a short visit. The Vulcans have complied, I can tell you; and therefore they are the ones who presently have influence over the pacifists. In order to extend our influence, we must do what the Vulcans believe we cannot: we must put our emotions aside and show that we are not afraid. We must take down our weapons—temporarily, of course."

"And how do we know that these other ships will have taken down their weapons?" Lt. Tarah, the Chief of Security asked, "I think that you are far too trusting, Commander Shran."

"This is not about trust, Tarah!" Shran bellowed, "This is about courage—and proving that we are honorable!"

"Commander, you'll have to try harder if you want to control your emotions like a Vulcan," Tarah told him sardonically, "Listen to me, Shran. I know that you are an honorable Thaan; we all know that. But I think that you have been overly influenced by Thel. He is only a little Ch'an, and he is our property. If the Humans have dared to imprison him at the behest of a group of cowardly pacifists, then I think we need to teach them a lesson. We are Thaans and Shens! We do not bow to the simplistic whims of Ch'ans and Zhens. When I want Thel, I take Thel! Therefore, let us take him back. He belongs to us, not the Pink-Skins and their ridiculous friends!"

"I must agree with Lt. Tarah, Shran," Ka'Jel interjected, "How far do we intend to go down this road? What if the One-Eyes demand the arrest of the entire crew?"

"I am the one who ordered the beating of those silly little creatures," Tarah snarled, "And I can tell you right now, I will not submit to the justice system of a bunch of cowardly fluff-balls! I knew we should have killed those pests while they were on board!"

"Then, Thel would have been facing a murder charge," Shran argued, "I understand your disagreements, people! But I am nonetheless ordering all of you to do as I say. There are situations that require a more subtle touch, and this is one of them. Do not blame the Pink-Skins, for they are only doing what they must to obtain access to the Portal as well. They say the Triars possess a wealth of minerals, and a powerful Shielding technology that could benefit the Imperial Guard. We must move gently for the time being. Do you understand me, or do I need to do battle with any of you to reclaim my authority?"

The team was silent for a moment. They were all looking at Tarah, for she was the one most likely to challenge Shran to a fight.

"Very well," Tarah conceded after a long pause, "I have just been appointed Chief of Security, and it would not do to kill my Commander within the first few months of obtaining this job. I will not fight you on this, Shran, but I do warn you sternly against this foolish action."

"Objection noted," Shran replied, "Are there any other comments or questions?"

"Yes," Nurse Shal said, "I would like to say something, Commander Shran. As some of you may know, Thel is my clan-brother. My full name is Ra'Shal Sh'Soar, and both I and my brother are from the Ra Clan. We have been advocating peaceful solutions to our conflicts for many generations, and I would like to make it known that I agree with Commander Shran's bold action. There is another kind of courage, one which does not involve engaging in senseless acts of violence."

"Yes, yes, Shal," Tarah retorted impatiently, "We all know of your desire to achieve a peaceful solution to this conflict—in the peaceful atmosphere of Shran's bedroom."

"That is enough, Tarah!" Shran commanded her, as Shal bared her teeth at the Security Chief, "Shal, I thank you for your support. We will bring back to you your clan-brother, I promise it. But for now, people—I expect you all to work together in a mature fashion, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Commander," Shal responded, "although I do believe Ka'Jel's bedroom is more Tarah's specialty."

"Of course," Tarah replied, "I'm not a pacifist-hypocrite like you, Shal. I do admit that Ka'Jel is mine—as is your clan-brother. Perhaps if Shran will not have you, you could take Tholos."

"Since Thel is gone, I do declare myself to be free, dear Shens," Tholos offered eagerly.

"Enough!" Shran barked, "I want no more mating spats between you, Tarah and Shal! Go now, and attend to your respective duties! Tholos, stop flirting with the females and get to the bridge—go and make sure Keval is not blowing up the ship. Ka'Jel and Talas, I want you to stay."

Ka'Jel and Talas were his most trusted officers, and he respected their judgment. He also knew that, even if they vehemently disagreed with him, they would carry out his orders.

"I know you both think I'm insane," Shran said to them, "but trust me on this one. My instincts tell me we need to hold off on fighting for a while. We will be working closely with the Humans on this—we need them as allies if we are to get Thel back. Ka'Jel, I want you to work closely with the Chief Engineer of the Enterprise, a Pink-Skin named Tucker. He has told me that he and the Armory Officer, Reed, do not like the order to take their weapons off-line any better than we do. Talas, I want you to see if you can establish a rapport with this Reed. It should not be difficult, since you are both in charge of weapons."

"Yes, but there will be nothing for he and I to do, since our weapons are to be taken off-line," Talas said with a sigh, "We will be weapons-specialists with no weapons."

"You can still confer together and monitor the situation," Shran told her, "perhaps you could even get yourself invited over to the _Enterprise,_ and do the thing that Pink-Skins call "going out for a coffee."

"Are you trying to pawn me off on this Human, Reed, so that I will be too busy to fight Shal and Tarah for you, Shran?" Talas asked in mock-suspicion.

"Don't you start, Talas!" Shran exclaimed, "I have had my fill of Shen-fights. I will contact Archer shortly to suggest to him that we create communication links with his officers within our respective Engineering and Weapons departments. This war we will need to fight without our weapons."

Talas nodded to Shran with a wry expression on her face, and left to perform her last few duties before the weapons were to be taken off-line.


	5. Chapter 5: Through the Portal

9

 _ **The Andorians**_

 _ **Chapter Five: Through the Portal**_

The Andorians waited by the Star Portal, their ship dwarfed by the huge technological structure which hung silently in space like a mysterious gateway into another Universe. Shran did not trust it. He sat in his command chair, his fingers tapping the arm slowly. He wondered as he tapped what kind of code the Cylcopians might hear if they were still on board. They were not on board, of course. They had all been left aboard the _Enterprise,_ to continue working with Ensign Hoshi Sato on their language. She had been learning more and more about their communication patterns, Archer had told him. He was gratified to hear that the Humans were having such success with the small creatures; it was, after all, one of Archer's goals to meet new species. In some ways, he envied Archer. Although his ship possessed weapons, he was not on a specific military mission as Shran was. Archer could be a soldier if he needed to be, but he also had the freedom to be a simple explorer. His superiors obviously granted him a good deal of leeway in his endeavors.

Shran, on the other hand, was always limited by his blasted orders from the Imperial Guard. He had sent an interstellar report to them, explaining what they were attempting to do. They had managed to send a return transmission ordering him to bring back as much information as they could about the Triarian Shielding technology and anything else they could get their hands on that was of interest. The General had not been the slightest bit interested in Thel's plight; instead, he had wanted them to discover how many Andorians there were at the Triarian space station and whether or not they had defected from Andoria. If so, they were to be offered an amnesty if they came back and revealed what they knew about the Triars' secret base at Kyarr.

Shran had heard about there being Andorian refugees who lived amongst the Triars on their worlds, but as far as he knew it was mostly supposition. It was now time to find out what lay beyond the Portal. Cha'Kal's diplomatic ship had gone through earlier, and they were waiting for them at the other end. They had watched the _Enterprise_ disappear from view, and now it was their turn. The signal had come in through their communication channels that it was time for them to go ahead.

"The weapons are completely off-line, Lt. Talas?" Shran checked with his tactical officer, "They'll block us if they aren't."

"Weapons completely off-line, Sir," Talas replied, "But the Human officer, Reed, and I configured a way to bring them back more quickly if we find ourselves in an emergency situation. Ka'Jel and Tucker have concurred with us on it."

"Excellent work, Talas," Shran praised her, "I think the Pink-Skins will be impressed with our ability to work with them as a team. Very well, Tholos, you may proceed. Follow the _Enterprise_ through the Portal. _"_

"Plotting a course straight through the Portal, Sir," Tholos acknowledged his superior.

As they moved forward, there was a sudden _blip_ sound, and their viewing screen went blank for a few moments. When they again regained their ship's vision, they were startled to find themselves many light-years away from their original position.

"We have reached an unknown section of space, Commander," Tholos informed him, "This is uncharted territory."

"I'm receiving a communication from the Triarian vessel, the _Tr'oon._ " Talas told them.

"Put it through, Lieutenant," Shran commanded, "and open a channel to Archer. I want him to be there with us when we talk to these Triars."

Talas brought up the two Captains from the Triar and Human ships respectively and set the communication up on a split screen.

On the right side of their viewing screen, Ambassador Cha'Kal stood beside a leaner, white-and-grey Triar who looked to be the Commander of the vessel. On the left side, Archer's familiar "pink" face shone through, comforting Shran immensely. Now that he was in Triarian territory, he was somewhat ill at ease, and he liked having the _Enterprise_ nearby as a backup.

"Commander Shran," the Triarian Captain greeted him, "Welcome to Kyarrian space. I am Captain Cha'Kaya, the brother of Ambassador Cha'Kal. We are here to lead both you and the _Enterprise_ to the Kyarr Space Station. I should mention that we will be monitoring you to make sure that neither of you bring your weapons back on-line."

"I give you my word of honor, Captain Cha'Kaya," Shran told the Triar, "As long as no one attempts to fire at my vessel, I will keep the weapons off-line."

"All vessels follow the same rule here," Cha'Kaya told him, "No weapons, ever...or you're out, faster than you can blink an eye. We are allied with the Guardians of this particular sector of space, and they are advanced beings who vigorously enforce the no-weapons rule. If you break it, you will not be harmed, but you will be escorted in a very swift and firm manner back out the Portal."

"Very well," Shran conceded, "I assume you've already given Archer the same lecture, Cha'Kaya?"

"Everyone who comes through here gets the same lecture, Commander Shran. I think my brother Cha'Kal would like to have a word with you, though, before we proceed any further."

"Shran," Cha'Kal greeted him, "I hope you're recovered from our little dance."

"Of course, Cha'Kal," Shran responded wryly, "I have thick skin, and I don't bruise easily."

"You do?" Cha'Kal said in a conversational tone, "Hey, that's great! That'd come in handy in case of a torture session. Unfortunately, the Cyclopians do bruise a little more easily, and before you go any further into our territory, I need to ask you one question."

Shran braced himself for the barrage of insults he was certain were going to come his way.

"Why did you torture the Cyclopians? Just give me an honest answer, no runabouts."

"We didn't torture them," Shran countered defensively, "We just...gave them a bit of routine discipline. We didn't realize that the creatures were so fragile."

"Oh, I think you did, my old friend," Cha'Kal answered, "So—why did you give them this 'routine discipline'?"

Shran's antennae writhed uncomfortably. He knew that there was little point in lying to Cha'Kal, as he had a way of ferreting out the truth with his annoyingly calm manner. Besides that, his conversational demeanor and casual sense of humor all reminded him of the Pink-Skins; Shran would not have been surprised to learn that Cha'Kal had already been spending a great deal of time around Humans, in spite of the Triarian assertion that they were opening up relations with them for the first time.

"We were looking for information about your people," Shran finally admitted to the Triarian Ambassador, "information about entry into the Star Portal, and about your Shielding technology."

He looked over at Archer's side of the screen and noted that Chief Zyzz of the Cyclopian Circle was again standing on the Human's head. She was at present jumping up and down and clattering her teeth together. Archer was beginning to look as though he wanted to bat her off of her perch, but he remained stoic in permitting his head to be used as a dance stage.

"Apparently, Shran," Archer told him, "The Cyclopians and the Triars would have shared all of that information with you freely. All you had to do was to ask them. Ambassador Cha'Kal says he's going to provide us with access to all the files on the Shielding technology...but then, we asked him politely."

"Yes, I see," Shran said irritably, "You're going to share the information with the Pink-Skins, but not with us. Is this to be our punishment, Cha'Kal? Are we not suffering enough already from your kidnapping of Ra'Thel?"

"Oh, cry me a river, Shran!" Cha'Kal exclaimed, "Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Archer, you, or anyone else who wants to find out more about our technology is free to do so. All you have to do when you arrive at Kyarr Station is to go to the Kyarr Library and ask the Chief Librarian. And no—you don't need to torture her to get the info."

"You mean, you provide _anyone_ with free access to this information?" Shran cried in disbelief.

"Yeah," Cha'Kal replied, "The only reason people keep technological information secret is if it has some destructive power that they don't want others to know they have in their possession. As pacifists, we don't use weapons, and so any technology that we do have is something that's going to benefit others if they adopt it. So, we share it with anyone who wants to learn about it."

"And you'll even share it with Andorians?" Shran asked, feeling foolish about having permitted Tarah and the others to beat the Cyclopians. The only real reason that he had allowed it at all was because he did not want to seem like a "soft" old man to either his officers or to his superiors from the Imperial Guard. Now that he was in the pacifists' territory, however, he was beginning to feel like a moral idiot once again.

"Yeah—even Andorians," Cha'Kal affirmed, "Although I need to inform you that you guys have been assigned Orange Level security status."

What in the name of Andor's Moon is that?" Shran asked, his suspicions aroused once more.

"Archer's Green and you're Orange," Cha'Kal explained, "In other words, he's less of a security risk than you are, Shran. I'm sorry about that—but kidnapping and torture are not actions that get you a Green Pass. You guys will have a bit more in the way of security checks while you're on board the station, to make sure that you aren't carrying weapons or anything."

"So Archer's above us, you mean!" Shran exclaimed, annoyed that the Pink-Skins were being elevated to a higher ethical level than he and his crew.

"No," explained Cha'Kal, "He's lower. He's a lower security risk than you are."

"So in other words, Pink-Skin," Shran shouted at Archer, " _You're_ better than us! You're less of a security risk!"

"Sorry, Shran," Archer consoled him, "It's just part of the system here, I guess."

The Triars finally stopped their irritating inquisition and led the two ships to a huge black and white space station, which was orbiting a small planet. They were each given docking instructions and led into the docking bay by a couple of escort shuttles. After they had docked successfully, Cha'Kal contacted them once again.

"Shran," he said to the Commander, "I need to tell you something else. When Archer goes on board the station with Thel, they're both going to have to pass through a big demonstration. Every Cyclopian from around here has come to give their stamp of disapproval to what you guys did to their people."

"Aren't those fur-balls ever satisfied?" Shran grumbled, "They're already getting Thel's arrest. Why do they need to keep on and on about it? It's not as if they were given true Andorian torture techniques—just a beating, that's all. I myself received plenty of beatings as a young cadet in the Imperial Guard. It's routine!"

"Shran, I'm not here to preach to you, okay? Just because we're pacifists doesn't mean we're morally perfect. We just emphasize different things in our societies. In the Cyclopian society, you don't perform an act of violence— _any_ act of violence, because big or small, they're all treated the same way—without getting stamped and stomped. They will keep stamping and stomping around you until you give them justice. They won't hurt Thel, or perform any violent acts upon him, but they will protest any time he's out and about. That's why we're putting him in protective custody until the court case."

"Those hypocritical little fur-flowers!" Shran growled, "They committed an act of violence against me when I went into Thel's medical bay—they attacked me, biting me all over. I suppose that doesn't count as violence in their society? I still have the tooth-marks on my antennae if Thel's judge would like to see them."

"That's fine, we can mention that," Cha'Kal told him, "But I don't think the judge will be too impressed, Shran. After all, you are a lot bigger than the Cyclopians, and you did throw the first punch, so to speak."

"Has Thel got anyone to speak for him?" Shran asked, tired of attempting to reason with Cha'Kal about the absurdity of the Cyclopians' actions.

"Not yet," Cha'Kal replied, "We wanted to give you a chance to appoint a Defender. If you want, I can have the court appoint one of our people."

"No," Shran told him, "I want Archer to speak in defense of Thel. The Cyclopians like and trust him, for some strange reason."

"Okay," Cha'Kal agreed, "I think they'd accept that."

Shran was thankful for at least one thing, and that was the fact that Cha'Kal was so easy-going. He had heard that Triars had a tendency to moralize, but so far Cha'Kal had refrained from being overly obnoxious in that regard.

"Put me through to Archer," Shran ordered Talas after Cha'Kal had finished speaking with him, "I need to get him on board as Defender, now."

Archer's image floated back onto the screen.

"Shran," he greeted the Commander, "We're getting ready to disembark. Hoshi and I are going to accompany Thel to his Protective Custody apartment. Ambassador Cha'Kal is going to lead us past the protestors...I asked if there was some way we could by-pass them, but he said it was best to face up to them in the beginning. If Thel avoids them for too long, the Cyclopians' demonstrations will grow louder and louder. We thought maybe it was best if you accompanied us, so that you hear their initial 'stomping demonstration' and they don't bother you as much while you and your crew are going about your business on the station."

"Of course I'm going to accompany Thel!" Shran exclaimed, "I'm not going to let him face the One-Eyes alone. What I want to ask you, Archer, is whether you'll be Thel's Defender when he goes to trial."

"Oh," Archer responded, evidently surprised by the request, "Well, I'll have to think about it, Shran. If I speak on Thel's behalf, that may affect our relationship with the Cyclopians. Hoshi has been working hard to open up a dialogue with them."

"Well then, Archer," Shran said to him in a sorrowful fashion, "You'll have to decide what's more important to you—defending an innocent man or currying favor with the One-Eyes. Shran out."

 _There_ , thought Shran, _let's give Archer a moral hoop to jump through for a change._

A few minutes later, Archer contacted him.

"All right, Shran," he conceded, "I'll do it." 


	6. Chapter 6: The Protestors

14

 _ **The Andorians**_

 _ **Chapter Six: The Protestors**_

The inside of the Kyarr Space Station looked like a palace. As Cha'Kal ushered them in, Shran could not help but look up at the grand arches and painted ceiling of the Main Foyer. There were paintings of all kinds of beings—Vulcans, Humans, Andorians, Tellarites, Cyclopians, Triars, Orions, Klingons, and many others that he did not recognize. There were many pictures of a ten-armed, floating being, which seemed to dominate the decor in this place. There were also statues of the ten-armed beings lining the walk-way as they entered into the Arrivals area.

"They remind me of a certain creature back on Earth, called an 'Octopus'," mused Archer, "Only they live in the sea and have eight instead of ten arms."

"Man, Captain!" One of Archer's officers, Ensign Travis Mayweather, exclaimed, "I'd love to explore this place! This is amazing!"

"You'll get your chance, Travis, I promise," Archer reassured the officer, "But right now, Hoshi needs your help with the Cyclopians. When we pass through that gate over there, Cha'Kal has told me that there will be hundreds and hundreds of them congregated to demonstrate against Thel...and they'll all be stomping up a storm."

"We'll be ready for them, Captain," Travis assured him, "Besides, we have a number of them who seem to be determined to serve as our bodyguards."

Two Cyclopians, one with pink fur and the other blue, had nestled on either side of Mayweather's shoulders and were rubbing their head-bodies against his face affectionately. Mayweather, a young dark-skinned Pink-Skin, was obviously eager to begin his duties aboard the alien Space Station. Hoshi Sato stood beside him, appearing a little less eager. She glanced worriedly towards the gate, and Chief Zyzz hopped onto her shoulder to reassure her. Hoshi had asked the Cyclopians to please stop perching on their heads, and so far they had complied.

Thel stood between Shran and Archer, staring ahead intently and taking little pleasure in the ornate surroundings. Thel's clan-sister, Nurse Shal, had insisted upon accompanying him through the demonstration, and she intended to stay with him while he was in protective custody. Cha'Kal had told them he thought that would be fine, since Thel would be staying in a guarded apartment rather than a prison cell. Shran had not been sure how well his Medical Officer would be treated aboard the Kyarr Station, but Cha'Kal had reassured him that he would be cared for well and would certainly not be mistreated.

"Do not fear, Thel my little clan-brother, for I will be with you," Shal soothed him.

"We both will, my Thel," Shran told him quietly.

"Shal, my dear Shen-sister," Thel replied softly, "and Shran, my respected Commander. Please, do not fret over me; and do not over-protect me. If I must repay my dishonorable deed with my freedom, then I will do so. You must both promise not to stand in the way of the One-Eyes obtaining their justice."

"You are paying for _our_ dishonorable deed, Thel," Shran corrected him, "and you must not forget that, no matter how guilty these pacifists cause you to feel. I have arranged for Archer to speak on your behalf, and the One-Eyes respect him. I have every confidence that he can convince them of your innocence...is that not true, Archer?"

"I'm going to try, Thel," Archer directed his response to the small Andorian, "The Cyclopians who were under your care during their stay aboard the _Kumari_ have prevailed upon Chief Zyzz to let me speak for you because of the fact that you did show them a great deal of care and compassion while they were there. Although they want justice, they also care about your well-being; and they want to make sure that you receive a proper defense. I agreed to defend you because I don't believe that you deserve to be incarcerated. You've shown a lot of courage and stamina in dealing with this situation, and I want you to know that you've got my respect, as well as Phlox's. I've arranged for him to come to the trial and speak as an unbiased character witness for you."

"Thank you, Captain Archer," Shal said on Thel's behalf, "my little brother does not believe that he is innocent, but I know that you will prove to the court what we all know to be true of Thel. Our family members have been pacifists for generations, and I know that the spirits of our ancestors will be fighting for Thel's release."

"The Cyclopians have been far too merciful to me," Thel remarked, "And you are probably wondering, Captain Archer, what two pacifists are doing serving within the Imperial Guard. I must admit to you before you speak on my behalf that I joined the Imperial Guard out of a youthful desire for glory and power. As a member of the Ch'an gender on Andoria, I don't receive a great deal of respect in a warrior's society. Shal joined because she truly wanted to heal the wounds of soldiers, but my reasons for doing so were far more selfish. So you see, I am not quite the hero that Shal and Shran believe me to be."

"Oh, Thel, shut up!" Shal told him, "None of us are the heroes that we seem to be. As a Shen, I am hardly a stranger to the desire for power and glory."

"Thel," Cha'Kal said as he moved towards the group, "I don't think you should be going through this, either, but the fact is we have to go and deal with it. There's a whole crowd out there waiting for you, and so I think we all need to get our butts moving in the direction of Cyclopian justice."

"I'm ready, Ambassador," Thel replied stoically, "Lead the way."

Archer nodded at his officers, and he moved aside so that Shal could walk beside her brother. The group walked slowly towards the gate, uncertain as to what mood the crowd of Cyclopians was going to display. As Thel walked out onto the main station behind the Humans and between Shran and Shal, a light tapping began. There were no cat-calls or angry jeers; just the light tapping, which grew louder as Thel and his companions followed Cha'Kal along the corridor. As they made their way along the hallway, they could see hundreds of furry creatures lined up along it for as far as they could see ahead. The Cyclopians that had been aboard the _Enterprise_ were riding upon the shoulders of the Humans and were not tapping, but instead rode along in a calm and stately manner. Chief Zyzz had returned to her second-favorite spot on Archer's right shoulder, having been previously banned from his head. It was as if the One-Eyes that had been with Archer on his ship had already had their "stomping session" with them in the _Enterprise's_ briefing room and no longer needed to stamp their disapproval of Thel.

The creatures who had lined the hallway, however, were another matter. They were progressively becoming louder as the party continued on their way, very slowly, towards Thel's guest quarters. By the time they had reached the lift at the end of the hallway, the stomping was deafening. It reverberated like a drum against the station floor and walls, echoing as it did so. The light _tap-tap-tapping_ had turned into a _boom-boom-booming,_ and was continuing to get louder.

"We're almost there," Cha'Kal shouted above the din as he motioned them to get into the lift. The doors closed, and to Shran's relief, none of the One-Eyes had tried to follow them.

"Let's hope that's it," Shran muttered, more to himself than anyone else.

"Not quite," Cha'Kal responded as the lift doors opened once more. The next corridor along which they were obliged to walk was also lined with protestors, but they were not the One-Eyes. On this level, it seemed that a huge crowd of Andorians and Humans had congregated, and were holding placards, written in Andorian script and the Earth alphabet.

 _ **"Down with the Andorian Imperial Guard"**_ read one placard, which was being held by a small Ch'an.

 _ **"No to Earth Eugenics Wars"**_ read another, which was held by a group of angry Humans with varying shades of skin pigmentation.

The Humans were chanting slogans in a number of different languages, and Archer found himself the target of the Humans' wrath.

" _Go back to Earth, you military dictator!"_ some of the Humans were yelling furiously at the Starfleet Captain.

 _At least,_ Shran thought wryly, _I finally have some company while getting my buttocks busted again by moralists._ As he looked around, he noticed that the Andorian protestors appeared to be primarily Ch'ans and Zhens. Where were the Thaans and Shens? He stopped for a moment in front of a Zhen protestor.

"Why are you protesting?" he asked her, "What is your cause?"

"We are protesting your arrival at our sanctuary," she told him, "We don't want the Imperial Guard here at Kyarr, trying to tell us what to do. We came here to obtain freedom from militarism!"

"We're not here to tell you what to do," Shran informed her, "We're only here to free an innocent Ch'an...a member of my crew."

Cha'Kal hurried him along the corridor, before the Zhen female could reply to him. It appeared as though the stories of Andorian refugees coming to Kyarr were correct. Shran knew that there were many Ch'an and Zhen pacifists who could have fled Andoria because they were afraid of governmental censure through the arm of the Military. The government had obviously been aware of them, for the General had ordered Shran to offer amnesty to any Andorians who wished to return—in exchange for information about Kyarr, of course. This, however, was a moot point since the Triars had indicated that any and all information that they might be interested in obtaining was all stored at the Public Library on Kyarr Station. It was apparent to Shran that the offer of amnesty to the Kyarr-Andorians for the purpose of baiting them into returning had now been rendered redundant.

As he turned his attention to the Pink-Skin protestors, it seemed to him as though there were a number of Human refugees from old Earth wars—or perhaps their descendants, who did not realize that these wars were now over.

" _We're not going to return to Earth, you Terror-Guards!"_ an old lady was shouting at Archer and his officers, " _Arrest these Humans, now, Cha'Kal!_ "

Ensign Mayweather had stopped to talk to one of the protestors as Shran had done, but Cha'Kal waved him onwards. The protestors were even beginning to shout at the Triarian Ambassador now.

" _Shame on you, Cha'Kal, for harboring criminals_!" one man shouted in rage.

"Come on, Ensign Mayweather!" the Triar urged him, "We have to keep moving. These guys are a little more rambunctious than the Cyclopians!"

"Hey, Ambassador," Mayweather replied, "You don't have to remind me of that—I'm Human!"

Cha'Kal shooed the young Mayweather down the corridor until they finally reached another lift. As they entered, a number of the Human protestors moved to try to prevent the lift doors from closing, but were not strong enough. As the doors closed, Cha'Kal breathed a sigh of relief.

"Next level is your living quarters, Thel," Cha'Kal told him, "It's protected by Security Shielding. I hope you don't mind if we all join you for a little while until the protests dwindle a bit."

"You are all welcome to share my jail cell, of course," Thel offered, "I won't complain about a bit more company."

The Ambassador led the way down a still and silent, white-carpeted corridor until they came to a room with a big wooden door. Cha'Kal used a small device to open the door and then led them inside. Thel gaped at his new "cell" in astonishment, as did Shran and Shal.

"This palace is what you Triars give to criminals?" Thel asked, startled by the unexpected luxuries, "I think that punishment like this will encourage crime on your station, Ambassador!"

It was a huge room that they had walked into, decorated with paintings and statues just as the Main Foyer of the Arrivals Deck had been. The space had all the amenities, as well as books, games, and what looked like entertainment devices of some kind. Cha'Kal showed them into the kitchen and began making some Earth-style coffee and tea.

"I gotta have some java," Cha'Kal explained, "to soothe my nerves."

"I think that coffee may have the opposite effect, Ambassador," Hoshi warned him, "It's got caffeine in it."

"I know," Cha'Kal answered, "but I gotta have it anyways. I think I got addicted to it after the Humans brought it in."

Archer was peering at Cha'Kal curiously, as Chief Zyzz and the other Cyclopians that had accompanied them jumped off the Humans' shoulders and began to run around the big apartment in jubilant play. Captain Archer, however, was less than amused.

"All right, Cha'Kal," Archer said with a hint of annoyance in his voice, "Are you going to tell me what this is all about? Who are those Humans that were protesting, and why didn't you warn us about them?"

"Yes, Cha'Kal," Shran added suspiciously, "You weren't very forthcoming about the Andorian protestors, either. You must have known that they were all going to stage a demonstration?"

"I...uh...I was hoping they'd wait awhile, until after the Cyclopians were done with their protest," Cha'Kal explained, hanging his head slightly, "The Human and Andorian leaders came to me when they heard that we were letting your two ships in, and they told me that they wanted to surprise you. I was under orders from my government not to reveal their presence to you outside of Kyarr because they had all come here for asylum, at least originally. I had asked them not to demonstrate until after we were finished with Thel's trial, so that I would have a chance to explain to you a little more about them...and kind of introduce them to you slowly. I guess they decided not to wait."

"So in other words, Cha'Kal, my dear pacifist friend," Shran growled at him, "You lied to us by omission."

"Yeah," Cha'Kal confessed, "I guess I did...like I said before, Shran, pacifists are not perfect. I'm sorry, guys, for not telling you a little more about the situation—you have every right to be angry with me. The Human refugees were taken in by Triars and brought to our home-world for refuge about a hundred and twenty-odd years ago. They were fleeing the second phase of the Eugenics Wars and World War Three. They've contributed a lot to our society culturally and technologically, and they helped us to re-build this big beauty of a Station, along with the break-away groups from Vulcan, Andoria, and Tellar. The last station was falling apart."

"I had asked you before, Cha'Kal, why you spoke our language with so many colloquial North American-Earth idioms," Hoshi said to the Ambassador, "You told us that you learned the Earth languages through the Vulcans' Language Tutorials, but I knew it would have to have been through prolonged direct contact with Humans."

"You're right, Hoshi," Cha'Kal admitted, "Triars are pretty adept at language, and we're highly imitative. I've always been fascinated by Humans, and I spent a good deal of my youth drinking and partying with one particularly wild group of Humans. Look, we couldn't tell you about them until you came here because they had asked us not to. They didn't want us mentioning them to you because they thought nothing had changed on Earth since the Eugenics Wars. We had heard through the Vulcans that those wars were over, and we told the Kyarrian Humans that, but we couldn't prove it...until now, maybe."

"I understand that, Cha'Kal, but I still would have appreciated it if you had told me all of this earlier," Archer responded, "Hoshi and I were pretty sure that you'd had some contact with Humans, but we didn't know you'd taken them into your society on a scale this large!"

"Yeah, we did," Cha'Kar replied, "But we tend not to talk about any of the refugees while we're in what we call 'Warrior Territory'. We do have great Shielding Technology, but the bottom line is, you guys have fire-power and we don't. We've got to be careful who we let in, and when we do, we need to insist on the weapons ban. We've had thousands and thousands of refugees pass through here over the years, from just about every species you can think of. In the recent past, it's been Vulcans, Humans, Andorians, Orions, and Tellarites. They've all come for different reasons—Humans, Orions and Andorians because of governmental oppression, and Vulcans and Tellarites mainly because of societal and cultural displacement. There are a number of tribes on both Vulcan and Tellar that have gotten the raw end of the stick in their societies, and they've come here in hopes of settling on one of our Portal worlds. The Vulcans who have settled on those worlds tend to be known as Vulcanians; their ancestors have been coming through here the longest because we've been allies of the Vulcans for centuries now. That's why we call ourselves ' _The Triar-Vulcanian Pacific Alliance'_. There have also been a lot of Vulcan scientists who have come here to carry out research that they aren't allowed to do under Vulcan jurisdiction."

"And what about Humans?" asked Archer, "Have there been many Humans who have gone to settle on these worlds?"

"There sure have," Cha'Kal answered, "And yeah, Andorians too, Shran. Unfortunately, the ten-armed 'Octopus' species that you saw in the form of statues in our Arrivals area have closed the second Star Portal to any further traffic to and from the colonies for the time being. Don't ask us why; the Jolans are a Guardian species, and they're very advanced. We think they're probably stopping more settlers from coming so that the colonies can take some time to stabilize; right at the moment, they've got a number of different species all living together on their worlds...and they've got the same rules on the colony worlds as they do here on Kyarr...no weapons, no wars. Period."

As Cha'Kal was speaking about the colonies, Shran noticed that Ensign Travis Mayweather was attempting to get a word in edge-wise. He gestured at Cha'Kal to shut up for a minute and let the young man speak.

"Captain," Ensign Mayweather broke in excitedly, "I recognized one of the protestors back on the second level! When I was working aboard my family's cargo ship, the _Horizon,_ several years ago, we came across a group of Humans in a mining research vessel. They were in distress, and we brought them aboard our ship to effect repairs. They didn't seem to know that the old wars on Earth were over, and they didn't trust us at first when we told them that the EP2 and World Wars had ended over a century ago—not until we told them that we'd spent most of our lives in space and not on the home planet. I got to know the Research Leader, an Indian woman named Ajala Nair. She's also a pacifist leader, and she was there in the corridor today. She told me that most of the Humans on Kyarr still don't believe that the wars are over, even though she's tried to inform them of what she learned from us when she was staying aboard the _Horizon."_

Archer sat down wearily on one of the ornate wooden chairs that had been supplied by the Triars, resting his arm on the artistically crafted kitchen table. He accepted the coffee that Cha'Kal had made for him gratefully.

"In that case, I may need you to accompany me to the meeting with these people, Travis," Archer told him, "I'm sorry, Hoshi, but you will have to cope with the Cyclopians alone for a while. Ambassador Cha'Kal, I trust that you will have no objections if I meet with the refugees? We need to straighten some things out."

"Sure, Captain," Cha'Kal agreed, evidently eager to redeem himself, "I'll arrange the meeting for you, since I was the one who led you into this situation with no prior warning."

"And what about us?" Shran interjected, "You didn't give _us_ prior warning about the number of Andorians who were going to be at this surprise protest, either, Cha'Kal, my fellow liar! You owe _us_ a meeting with them as well!"

"Okay, okay, Shran!" Cha'Kal conceded, "So pacifists can be baddies, too. I'll arrange a meeting for your people as well. The Humans and the Andorians collaborated on the protest, though, so they'll probably want to meet you two guys together."

"That would be acceptable to me," Shran agreed, "But what about Thel and his trial? Archer is supposed to speak for him."

"We've still got a few days until the trial," Cha'Kal told him, "Commander Jagar is the Law-Giver of this station, and he's the one who will be judging the trial. I'll let him know that you guys want to hold emergency talks with the Human and Andorian protestors together. I think he'll be agreeable to that—as long as I catch him during his first coffee break of the day. He normally has ten coffee breaks, and so he's pretty wired by the end of the day."

Cha'Kal left the group in order to go and consult with Commander Jagar while Mayweather joined Hoshi, Thel, Shal, and the Cyclopians in a game the Humans called "Charades", in order to keep the rather hyper-active One-Eyes busy. Shran sat down opposite from Archer, swirling the 'coffee' that the Triar had given him around in his mug.

"Well, Archer," he said, "Here we are, docked without weapons aboard a space station run by Fur-Skins who have been influenced by the Vulcans for 'centuries', I believe Cha'Kal told us; and on top of that, there are these ten-armed 'Jolans' controlling the colonies that our people have been running to all these years, without our knowledge. We've got not only the One-Eyes protesting against us, but now our own people as well! Could things possibly get any more complicated?"

"Don't ask that, Shran," Archer warned him, taking a sip of his coffee and rubbing the side of his head, "I have the feeling that's not a good question to pose right at the moment."

There was a beep from the Kitchen Intercom, and Archer pressed a button in order to respond.

"Archer," he answered warily, "Who is this?"

"It's Cha'Kal," the voice of the Triarian diplomat told him, "I've just been speaking with the leader of yet another group of protestors. Would your Science Officer T'Pol possibly be willing to help us with these talks?"

"I don't know," Archer replied, "I'd have to ask her. Why do you want T'Pol here?"

"It's the Vulcanians," Cha'Kal explained, "They've just heard that the Humans and Andorians are meeting together with you and they'd like to join the meeting, too."


	7. Chapter 7: Building Bridges

17

 _ **The Andorians**_

 _ **Chapter Seven: Building Bridges**_

Archer, T'Pol, Shran, and Mayweather sat waiting in the Kyarrian Meeting Room. The Protestors had not arrived yet, except for one very big Vulcanian who stared at them warily, tapping his fingers on the table. T'Pol had not yet introduced herself to him, and so Archer stood up, somewhat awkwardly, and attempted a greeting.

"I'm Jonathan Archer of the Starship Enterprise," he said, "and this is my Science Officer, T'Pol. She's going to be...representing Vulcan at these talks."

"Captain," T'Pol interrupted, before the Vulcanian could reply, "I am not going to be representing Vulcan. I am not in a position to represent Vulcan—as I told you before, that function should properly be given to a diplomat, such as Ambassador Soval."

Archer grimaced at the name of his favorite Vulcan diplomat.

"Well, T'Pol, Soval isn't exactly available, and Cha'Kal specifically asked for you. All you need to do is to listen to the Vulcanians, and then you can send a report to Soval and he can decide what to do with it. We just want to hear these people out, and try to build a few bridges while we're at it. As far as they're concerned, we're all a bunch of military dictators, and we need to change that perception."

"Marthkaen," the huge Vulcanian said.

"I beg your pardon?" Archer excused himself, "I didn't quite catch that."

"My name," the Vulcanian Leader told him, "Is Haddonek Marthkaen. I am Leader of the Vulcan/Vulcanian contingent, and a member of the Triar-Vulcanian Council. I am not from Vulcan, but rather I am from the Portal colony worlds. I am, however, speaking on behalf of some rather dissatisfied Vulcans."

"Why are they dissatisfied?" T'Pol asked, as if she were not particularly looking forward to hearing the answer.

"They are constantly threatened with arrest whenever they return to Vulcan to see family members," Marthkaen responded, "The Vulcan government seems to think that because they have lived on Kyarr, or have come from the colony worlds, that they are somehow suspect."

"If the government suspects them of a crime, it is possible that they are guilty," T'Pol responded.

"Yes, Ms. T'Pol," Marthkaen answered with a twist of irony in his voice, "The Vulcan High Command could not possibly be guilty of any crimes itself."

As Shran listened to the conversation between T'Pol and Marthkaen, it began to become apparent that there were many Vulcans or Vulcan descendants here who were enemies of the Vulcan High Command. It occurred to him that this might prove extremely useful to the Imperial Guard.

"We were of the understanding that all Vulcans supported their hallowed government," Shran interjected, to T'Pol's obvious annoyance.

"I am _not_ Vulcan," Marthkaen responded sharply, "and don't you dare insult me by calling me that name again, you of the _hallowed_ Andorian Imperial Guard. I am _Vulcanian_. We have formed an alliance with the Humans on my world, a Portal world which the Round-Ears call " _Alpha Vulcana Majoris_ ". We simply refer to it as _Vulcania."_

"And are there any _Andorians_ on your world?" Shran asked with interest.

"I will let the Andorians decide whether to answer that question, when they get here," Marthkaen replied irritably.

Before Shran could make a heated reply to Marthkaen's remark, a beep sounded from Archer's communicator.

"Archer here," he answered, "What is it?"

"Lt. Reed here, Sir," the Armory Officer responded, "Commander Tucker is busy in Engineering at the moment. I've just had a communication from the Triarian Commander of the Station, Commander Jagar; he's demanding a 'Certificate of De-Weaponization' from us declaring that our weapons are indeed off-line, and he also wants an Engineering Scan proving it. Commander Tucker is working on the proof, and I'm drafting up a declaration for the Triars. Tucker and I are going to sign it, but apparently we also need your signature...it's all a part of Triarian bureaucracy, Winnie says."

"All right, Reed. Can you bring it here for me to sign and then go to Jagar with it in person? We want to keep them happy. I'll arrange with Cha'Kal for an escort to bring you here, and then to Jagar's office. By the way, who is Winnie?"

"Yes, Captain. I'm sorry—'Winnie' is the secret nickname I've given to Commander Jagar—because he looks and sounds like a cross between Winston Churchill and Winnie-the-Pooh."

Shran was not familiar with either of the Pink-Skins, Winston Churchill or Winnie-the-Pooh, but he had an idea from the way Reed had said it that it was only partially complimentary to Commander Jagar.

"I see," replied Archer, "Well—don't call him that to his face, Reed."

"Oh, of course not, Sir," Reed concurred, "By the way, Captain, the Andorian Chief Engineer, Ka'Jel, has received the same message from Jagar and is working on his scan in conjunction with Commander Tucker. Lt. Talas, the Andorian Tactical Officer, would probably like to accompany me to Jagar's, if Commander Shran will agree. She's actually with me right now—we were having a coffee together earlier."

"Put her on, Reed!" Shran ordered from across the table, before adding hastily, "If you don't mind, Archer."

Archer nodded his agreement, and Talas' voice sounded over the communicator.

"Commander Shran. We have been cooperating with the Pink-Skins, as you ordered. That blasted Fur-Hog that Reed calls ' _Winnie'_ is an annoying pain in the backside! He insists on putting us through this ridiculous bureaucratic nonsense when it is obvious to anyone who runs a scan on our vessels from their end that our weapons are off-line! How many times do we need to declare it before they will accept it?"

"As many times as they want, Talas," Shran replied, " _That blasted Fur-Hog, Winnie,_ as you and Reed refer to him, is the one who's going to be judging Thel when they put him on trial in a few days, after these talks that we're having with our people."

"Understood, Commander," Talas responded wearily, "We must bow again to these idiotic pacifists."

"We'll be over to your location shortly, Captain," Reed informed Archer, "with both 'Certificates' for you and Shran to sign."

"Thank you, Reed. Archer out."

As Archer put his communicator away, the groups of Kyarrian Andorians, Humans, and Vulcan/Vulcanians were led in by Cha'Kal. The groups were fairly small, and the Protestors much more subdued at this moment. The Andorian Zhen that Shran had spoken to earlier sat down across from him. She seemed to be the leader of the group—and a very beautiful leader, at that, Shran noted.

The leader of the Human group, Ajala Nair, sat across from Archer, and she nodded to Travis Mayweather, who was sitting beside Archer. Mayweather leaned across the table and offered her his hand.

"Travis," she greeted him, taking his hand serenely, "it is so good to see you again, my friend."

"Ajala," Travis said to her, "Have you had any success informing the others about Earth's status? Earth people haven't been at war with each other for one hundred and twenty-five years at least! You've got to believe us—we're explorers, not military dictators!"

"Yes, Travis," Ajala replied, "They understand that those particular conflicts have been resolved. The question in our minds is when will the next great military adventure begin?"

"And on that note," Cha'Kal interjected, "I'd like to introduce everybody. Captain Jonathan Archer, I'd like you to meet Ms. Ajala Nair. She's a Councilor on the Triar-Vulcanian Council, just as is Councilor Haddonek Marthkaen, spokesperson for the Vulcan/Vulcanians on Kyarr; and we have Ms. Ra'Lel Zh'Soar, who is Kyarr's Andorian Leader. Ladies and gentlemen of Kyarr, I'd like you to meet not only Captain Archer, but also Ensign Travis Mayweather of the Earth ship _Enterprise,_ along with its Vulcan Science Officer, Subcommander T'Pol. I'd also like to introduce Commander Thy'lek Shran of the Andorian Imperial Guard. They're here to listen to your concerns, and not to arrest you as some of you had feared. I've spent a fair bit of time with them, and I can vouch for all of them—so please don't yell at them or call them names. We're here to build a few bridges instead of burning them."

"I don't believe we need a patronizing lecture from the Triars about how to behave at a meeting, Ambassador Cha'Kal," Ajala Nair said, "I do apologize to Captain Archer and the others about how they were jostled about by the Protestors, but the members of this contingent are all seasoned politicians, and we know how to behave like adults."

"Right," Cha'Kal responded, "Sorry about that, Ajala. I didn't mean to be patronizing. Anyways, the other members of the Kyarrian contingent are..."

Cha'Kal rattled off the names of the other Humans, Andorians, and Vulcan/Vulcanians who were present, but Shran was not listening to the introductions. Instead, he was studying the Andorian Zhen, Ra'Lel Zh'Soar. Judging by her name, she was a member of Thel and Shal's large, well-to-do clan, although she was not necessarily a direct member of their particular family. There were many of the Soar family name within the Ra clan, and so she could very well be a distant relative, since Thel had never mentioned a clan-sister named Lel before. Lel's skin was a very light, pale blue shade, and her hair held a hint of gold within its strands. Shran thought that he had never seen a Zhen as beautiful as this one.

"Andoria to Shran, come in, Shran!" Cha'Kal was saying into his ear, and he abruptly came back to his senses.

"What?" cried Shran, "What were you saying, Cha'Kal?"

"Ajala and Lel had suggested that Chief Zyzz of the Cyclopian Circle join us, since she has some issues with you. You okay with that? Hoshi's going to come in with her."

"Yes, of course," Shran agreed, "As long as she doesn't bite my antennae."

"And as long as you don't pummel her, Shran," Lel scolded him, "Cyclopians don't bite peoples' antennae for nothing."

"I see," Shran answered, "You've heard about our misdemeanor already, Ms. Ra'Lel?"

"It was certainly more than that, Shran...and I don't believe that Ra'Thel should be paying for it, either. I've told that to Chief Zyzz, and filed an official protest with her government."

"Do you know Ra'Thel, Lel?" he asked her pointedly, "You do have the same clan and family names."

"Yes, he is a distant cousin of mine," admitted Lel, "although he may not remember me. We met as children at a clan gathering. I do know his clan-sister Shal, for we met at many a peace demonstration, and we once shared a prison cell as adolescents. We had been arrested for demonstrating against the abuses of the Andorian Imperial Ground Forces."

Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Hoshi, Zyzz, Reed, and Talas. Hoshi and Zyzz sat down together beside Mayweather, while Reed and Talas gave the "Certificates of De-Weaponization" to himself and Archer to sign. After Reed and Talas had taken their Certificates and had left to go to Commander Jagar's office, the meeting started in earnest.

"We believe that it would be most productive if we could work on a Treaty with Captain Archer," Ajala told them, "And I believe that Lel would like to do the same kind of thing with Shran. Haddonek, you did not tell us what you wanted, but I am assuming that you want to sign some kind of agreement with Subcommander T'Pol, to be given to the Vulcan government for their consideration. And Zyzz—you and your translator should work on something similar with Lel and Shran. Work through Lel, of course. Don't trust that...Imperial Guardian."

"Are you in charge of everyone's treaty, Ms. Nair?" Shran asked, feeling as though both Lel and Nair wanted to gang up on him and turn him into "The Culprit".

"No, Mr. Shran," she responded, "But I am making some suggestions so that we can make it clear to all of you and your governments what we will and will not accept. We will not tolerate, for instance, any aggressive or threatening behavior, towards _any_ of us—I believe that we are all united on that principle."

Chief Zyzz began to dance on the table in support of Nair's remark.

"Zyzz agrees," Hoshi told them, somewhat unnecessarily.

"Ms. Nair," Archer interjected, "I would like to make one thing clear. We are not here on a mission of aggression, but one of peace. We know that your people endured some terrible things at the hands of Earth authorities over a century ago, but you have to understand that things on Earth have changed tremendously since that time. Our nations have long since signed a number of treaties which have banned warfare as an acceptable means of international conflict resolution. The nations have united under one interconnected organization, and we've eliminated a lot of the past problems, such as poverty, most diseases, and war. I honestly don't think that you would recognize Earth if you came for a visit...and I hope one day you will all feel comfortable in doing that, because I think you would be pleasantly surprised."

"I see," Nair responded, "Well, you make it sound like a veritable Shangri-la, Jonathan Archer. I, however, am not convinced. When you say that Earth has changed its ways, Captain, you remind me of a drunken husband who continues to promise his wife that he will change while practicing the same dysfunctional behavior over and over again."

"Ms. Nair," Archer countered, "I am not a drunk, and I am not married. If you don't believe me, I can send you thousands of news and history files documenting what has occurred on Earth over the past century."

"He's right, Ajala," Mayweather concurred, "I wasn't born on Earth; I was born in space on board a vessel. I'm not as attached to Earth as some Humans are, but I know what has happened there. I realize it sounds like a fantasy, but there really are no wars on Earth now."

"Is that why your vessel carries weapons, Travis?" Nair asked him quietly.

"No," Mayweather replied, "We carry weapons in case we come across a species that _is_ very war-like and aggressive. We carry weapons to defend ourselves, not to overtly make war ourselves."

"Still," Nair challenged them, "You have not out-grown the need for weapons."

"No, not completely," admitted Archer, "And I'm not sure how to 'out-grow' them when you've got a galaxy full of beings that _do_ use weapons."

"Well, the same way Earth supposedly did," Nair told him, "You decide you're just not going to use them anymore. Cha'Kal, did you explain to them about the Defensive Shielding technology that we all use here at Kyarr, and on the other Triarian colonies?"

"No, Ajala," the Triar admitted, "I didn't. I told them all where to find the information, though."

"Cha'Kal!" Nair chided him, "You ought to have explained first. Captain, have your Engineering and Weapons officers studied the information in the Kyarr library yet, concerning the Shielding technology?"

"No," Archer replied, "We're waiting until the situation here with you stabilizes before we send our people to the Library. There's not much point in going to study something if you've got protestors screaming in your ear. If you could speak to your people and explain that we're not a threat to them, then I could send my officers to the Library to do some research."

"I have already spoken to my people and told them that I do not believe that you are a direct threat to them right now," Nair responded, "But I cannot reassure them that your government has changed its ways because I do not know that. I do not know you."

"Hopefully, we can get to know each other during the _Enterprise's_ stay, Ms. Nair. I believe that if the present Earth government knew of your existence, it would want to open up relations with your people and begin to make reparations."

"Reparations," Nair repeated sardonically, "Captain, do you know what our great-grandparents and grandparents went through before we escaped here, with the aid of the Triars? The Earth government was routinely torturing and imprisoning ordinary people all over the globe for absurd reasons. Our ancestors were all people who had the courage to fight the government's abuses through peaceful means—they did so through nonviolent resistance and eventually were forced to flee Earth and Mars in various escape vessels. They made their way into unknown space, and were close to starving when the Triars found them and brought them to their home planet as refugees. Since then, our people have made great strides in art, science, and technology. Our grandparents taught us well about Earth history. They always warned us, though, to be very wary of any and all Earth travelers—they always believed that the Earth government would send an armada after us to capture us once more."

"The Earth government that your grandparents and great-grandparents knew," Archer explained, "no longer exists. It's been replaced by a government that respects its people- _all_ of its people, not just a select few, as used to be the case."

"Time will tell, Archer," Nair replied, "and we all have a little test for the original home-worlds' representatives. As I mentioned earlier, the technology for extremely strong, almost impenetrable shielding exists, and it was actualized through Triarian, Human, Vulcan, Andorian, and Tellarite pacifists cooperating and working together in order to find a shield that would be strong enough to protect us without the need for weapons. You will all find—and I'm assuming that the Vulcan representative Ms. T'Pol will be interested, as a Science Officer, in studying the information in the library—that the Shielding Technology that we have developed does not include weaponry. In fact, it is a completely different system than the one used for ordinary shielding and weaponry and any weapons system you that you attempt to install in addition to the Shields will be incompatible with our Shielding technology. If you installed what has come to be known as 'Triarian Shielding' in your own vessels, you would be very well-protected from those who would do you harm, but you would not be able to return the harm that might be done to you. And so the test is—will you or will you not accept this peaceful alternative to weapons systems?"

"Do you mean to say," Shran interjected, perturbed by what Ajala Nair was telling them, "that if we utilize the Shielding technology, we would need to take our weapons out permanently?"

"Yes, Commander," Lel answered Shran's question on Nair's behalf, "That is exactly what we mean. And that is why you do not see many Thaans and Shens among us here at Kyarr. They tend to be the warriors of our society, and therefore they react in horror to the idea that weapons could be banned on their ships altogether."

"But just imagine," Nair added, "what the galaxies would be like if more and more societies switched to no-weapons vessels?"

"They would be societies which would be blown to bits by Klingons, that's what!" Shran exploded, "That is the most ridiculous thing that I have ever heard, Lel and Ajala! These shield technologies might be strong, but they could not stand up to continual phaser blasts forever!"

"Well..." Cha'Kal countered, "I have to admit that these technologies are not one hundred per cent peaceful in all situations. If some Klingon Captain—let's call him Cap'n Klaang—did what you're saying, Shran, and kept firing and firing at one of our ships in spite of all our warnings to him about overload, the energy from the blasts would eventually build and build until it back-fired on the aggressive vessel. The Shielding would protect our ship, but unfortunately, Cap'n Klaang's ship would be blown to bits by its own aggression."

"Aha," Shran said to Cha'Kal, as if he had caught the Triar stealing a biscuit from his mother's pantry, "Then you admit, Cha'Kal, that you and your people are _not one hundred per cent pacifist!_ "

"Shran," Cha'Kal retorted, "No being that exists at our particular vibrational level is _one hundred per cent_ pacifist! If we were, we'd be what we call ' _dead';_ in other words, we'd be in the other-world. We all have families to protect, and we do the best we can given the societies that we've grown up in. My society has never been big on war; we just don't have the energy and will to kill each other. We had little skirmishes in our distant past, but even then we'd lose half the armies on either side because the soldiers would get sick of fighting and would meet their enemies at the pub for a drink instead. Most of our past conflicts got resolved over a pint of Triarian ale. It's not that we were superior to the Big Warrior societies like Earth, Andoria, and Vulcan; it's just that we were more interested in partying than killing each other. You'd probably call us cowards. Nowadays we just call it common sense...if you kill the other guy, he's going to try to kill you. And that's too much of a pain in the butt for us."

"It may be a pain in the buttocks for you, Cha'Kal," Shran chastised him, "But you've just admitted that you still do it, through this Shield Overload business. I believe there actually _was_ a real-life version of your imaginary _'Cap'n Klaang'._ When I met you the last time, you mentioned to me a Klingon vessel which had been 'indirectly' destroyed by one of your vessels. You would not elaborate on that, but I've been holding it in the back of my mind the whole time I've been dealing with you. After all, you've already proven yourself a liar with regard to your secret refugee population. Why should we believe you and your allies when you tell us that your intentions are peaceful? Maybe you intend to annoy and provoke us into attacking you, and thus destroying ourselves."

"Yeah," Cha'Kal answered irritably, "let's not forget the last time you and I met, Shran, when you tortured the guts right out of me. You're not exactly in a position to be scolding me about my lies and my war-like tendencies, Commander Truth-n'-Justice."

"Stop trying to turn this around and make Cha'Kal the villain, Shran!" Councilor Haddonek Marthkaen concurred with the Triar, "All vessels within the Triar-Vulcanian Pacific Alliance that possess Shielding Technology are required by law to give any Commander who fires upon them at least three warnings about Shield Overload and Back-Fire. The Captain of the Vulcanian vessel that was involved in the incident that you just described warned the Klingon Captain at least eight times that firing on their vessel would result in the Shielding Back-Fire, but the Klingon chose to ignore all eight of those warnings, and his vessel was destroyed."

"I'm not surprised to learn that the Vulcans were involved," Shran muttered.

"I told you before—I'm _not_ a Vulcan!" Haddonek Marthkaen yelled.

"Okay, Hadd," Ajala Nair soothed him, "Don't let Shran provoke _you_ into a verbal attack."

Shran sat back, furiously attempting to disengage himself from the hypocritical pacifists. As far as he was concerned, they had no right to ask himself and his crew to "de-weaponize" their vessels here when their own Shielding was allowed to be operational—shielding that Cha'Kal and Marthkaen had both admitted _could_ indeed be used as a weapon! He had half a mind to order Ka'Jel to put the weapons back on-line as a protest...a peaceful protest, of course.

"Listen, everyone!" Cha'Kal shouted above the din which had broken out as all the representatives and their people began to talk at once, "We're not getting anywhere this way. I've got a suggestion—that is, that we break into groups. The Humans go with Archer and Travis into that corner of the room and work out their basic agreement between Earth and the Kyarrian Humans—what they will and will not accept, and what Earth is willing to offer them. Maybe, Captain Archer, you could draft an apology as a gesture of goodwill? Then, I'd like you, Hadd, to take your people and go work something out with T'Pol in that corner..."

"What are we supposed to work out with her?" Haddonek asked, "I've already had a preliminary conversation with her, and have found her to be obstinate. She's the epitome of the Vulcan High Command."

"Start with the arrests issue," Cha'Kal ordered him, "Try and work out a solution so that Vulcanians and dissident Vulcans are not being harassed when they go back to the old home-world. _Anything_ you agree on will be better than nothing. Then, at least, T'Pol can send _something_ back to my old pal, Soval."

"You are familiar with Ambassador Soval, Cha'Kal?" T'Pol asked, raising her eyebrow in an expression which suggested that she was slightly surprised.

"Yeah," Cha'Kal confirmed, "Me and him shared a cell some years ago on Andoria, when we were both being tortured for info. Look, Ms. T'Pol, just try your best, okay? I know Hadd is a pain in the backside, but he's just trying to protect his people. We've been having a hell of a time with the Vulcan ships that dock here, because they demand the right to put their weapons back on-line..."

"And we'd better not discover that you've been giving into the Vulcans, Cha'Kal!" Shran shouted, "Because if that's the case, we're putting _our_ weapons back on-line, too!"

"I wouldn't recommend it, Shran," Cha'Kal warned him, "Not if you want to stay here. The last Vulcan Captain to do that was escorted out in the blink of an eye by the ten-armed Jolan Guardians that you see paintings of all over the station. One moment, Captain Stel's ship was here, and the next it was back in the Vulcan neighborhood."

Shran was becoming weary of being lectured to by the Triarian Ambassador. How dare he consign them all to different corners of the room to negotiate their agreements, as though they were unruly children? He was annoyed to see that Archer and Ajala were complying with Cha'Kal's request and bringing their chairs over to the far corner of the room.

"I refuse to negotiate in a corner!" Shran boomed at the Triar.

"Very well," Lel answered on Cha'Kal's behalf, "Then we'll stay at the table for our negotiation, Shran, if you're determined to be unreasonable. Hoshi and Zyzz, of course, will stay with us so that you can work on some rules between Cyclopians and Andorians—so that no more of them are bullied by your people."

Shran nodded his agreement, and Haddonek glared at him, as if irritated that he and his group were one of those who would be "corner-negotiating". Subcommander T'Pol, however, had already moved to the other end of the room, so the Vulcan/Vulcanian contingent had no choice but to follow.

"First of all, Shran," Lel told him, "I want you to draft a promise to us that you will not try to push any of us into going back to Andoria. You will also sign a non-aggression treaty with us that states clearly and concisely that you will not engage in torture of our people for any reason."

"I see," Shran replied, "And I suppose I don't get to put in any stipulations on behalf of the Andorian Imperial Guard, do I, Lel?"

"We shall have to go through the 'stipulations' one by one and see, Shran," Lel responded, "But I warn you that none of us are in any mood for the Imperial Guard's tricks."

At that point, Chief Zyzz began to dance on the table. After jumping around the table like a furry maniac, Zyzz stopped right in front of Shran and put her thin little foot-claws up to his nose.

"What does she want, Hoshi?" he asked, annoyed that the little creature was interrupting his important negotiations with Lel.

"She says she's come to a decision, Shran," Hoshi told him, "She wants you to stand trial instead of Thel. She says that she now agrees with Lel that you should be the one to go to prison."


	8. Chapter 8: A Defender for Shran

13

 _ **The Andorians**_

 _ **Chapter Eight: A Defender for Shran**_

"No, Shran!" Thel yelled at his Commander, "I am the one who is to stand trial! Chief Zyzz cannot do this!"

The three ship-mates, Shran, Thel, and Shal, stood amidst the luxury of the " _Palace Jail Cell"_ that the Triars had provided for them, and they argued bitterly about who was to stand trial. Ra'Lel Zh'Soar stood off to one side, with Hoshi and Zyzz.

"I have decided that I want to stay here, Shran," Thel exclaimed, "Even if it is under the custody of the Triars. I wish to join my cousin, and help her with her work here, to the extent that I can from whatever prison cell they give me."

"You would likely be staying here, under house arrest," Lel explained to her newly-found distant cousin Thel, "If you were to be convicted, that is. Commander Jagar generally prefers community service as a way to redeem oneself after committing a crime. You would be kept busy serving the community, under supervision, of course."

"Then let me serve, Lel!" Thel pleaded, "Tell Zyzz to let Commander Shran go free. He will be a pain in the backside if he stays here, I promise it!"

"You are welcome to stay and serve, Cousin Thel," Lel replied, "You do not need to stand trial and be convicted in order to do that. It is far more appropriate that Shran stand trial, for he was the one responsible for the decision to kidnap, detain, and beat the Cyclopian prisoners. He should be punished, not you."

Shran heaved a heavy sigh. After having spent the last several hours negotiating an agreement with Lel and her people, he realized that she was not one to be trifled with. She was the one who had influenced Chief Zyzz to change her mind with regard to Thel being tried, and he supposed that he ought to be grateful to her for that. But now the blasted trial had suddenly turned into a diplomatic nightmare. He might have been able to argue to the Imperial Guard for Thel having been arrested and serving an alien prison sentence; but he as the Commander could not possibly agree to desert his post merely to mollify the Cyclopians. And yet, he could not turn his ship around and flee because that would ensure that no Andorian vessels would ever be allowed access to Kyarr in the future. Although their shielding technology could not be used on a weapon-equipped ship, it might still prove useful to the Imperial Guard. He had spoken with his engineer, Ka'Jel, who had gone to the library with Tucker to study the technology. Ka'Jel was determined to find a way to make the Triarian shielding compatible to an armed vessel, but even if he was unable to do so the Imperial Guard could still benefit from having some "no-weapons" vessels equipped with the powerful shields alone. Shran was especially keen on that possibility now that he knew about the "back-fire" element of the Triars' shields. Such a thing could come as a nasty surprise to an overly aggressive Orion or Klingon enemy vessel, the Commander of which would not suspect that an Andorian vessel could possibly be equipped with pacifists' shielding technology. The ships could even be disguised as plain cargo vessels in order to fool their enemies.

As he thought of the possibilities, Shran considered that it might even be worth it if he was convicted—perhaps he could work something out with the Triars to serve his sentence in bits and pieces, which would give them an excuse to return to Kyarr and use the library to develop their own version of the Triarian shielding. In order to ensure a fair sentence, however, he needed a good defender. He wondered whether Archer would still be willing to defend him in Thel's place. Somehow, he doubted it. After the talks had finally ended, Archer and Ajala Nair had agreed to continue their discussion over dinner. Archer had invited her to the _Enterprise_ in order to show her the ship and acquaint her with some of Earth's history files. Archer would most probably not want to damage his standing with Nair and her group by defending an "Imperial Guardian" as Ajala had referred to Shran. Still, Archer might be persuaded to consider it if he was asked in the proper manner.

"Excuse me, Commander Shran," Hoshi interrupted his thought processes, "But Chief Zyzz has informed me that she is willing to let Captain Archer speak for you, if he is agreeable. I just found out recently that Cyclopians are receptively telepathic; Zyzz told me that you were thinking about whether or not the Captain would defend you."

 _That rotten little fur-flower!_ Shran thought, _What business does she have trespassing in my head?_

Shran immediately banished his thoughts about Chief Zyzz, as he now realized that she could be snooping about within his thinking processes at any moment.

"Tell Chief Zyzz I thank her," Shran said to Hoshi, "But I would prefer it if the Chief would take her followers and leave me and my people alone now. My mind is my private sanctuary, and I do not appreciate mental spying."

"Chief Zyzz has agreed to leave with her people," Hoshi translated, "She says she wasn't spying on your thoughts; it's just that she couldn't avoid hearing them because her mind-reading abilities are so sensitive. She says you were broadcasting your thoughts and emotions all over the room."

Shran felt aggravated by the Cyclopian's inference. Did she think that he was some mentally inferior thought-broadcaster?

"No," Hoshi answered, "She doesn't think you're inferior, Commander, but she does suggest that you meditate before the trial...okay, Commander Shran, we're leaving now. The Cyclopians are taking me out to lunch at one of their favorite restaurants on Kyarr Station, anyways."

Shran's expression must have "broadcasted" his annoyance rather well, because even Hoshi seemed to know what he was thinking now. As the Human translator left for lunch with her troop of adoring Cyclopians, Shran breathed a sigh of relief. He was glad to be rid of those little menaces, if only for a little while.

Lel was regarding him with a sardonic expression on her own face.

"Well, Shran," she said, "At least the Cyclopians have given you their blessing to use Archer as your Defender, which is more than you deserve. Now all you have to do is convince the Captain himself."

"I wonder, Lel," Shran suggested in a sly manner, "If you and I might follow Archer and Nair's example and have dinner together. Perhaps we could order one in, since I assume that I am expected to stay in this luxury apartment until the trial. We could continue the discussion that we were having earlier. I believe that Thel and Shal should now be free to go and explore for a while...would you not like to take advantage of your new freedom to do so, Dr. Ra'Thel?"

"I take that as an order to get out and leave you alone with Lel, Commander," Thel retorted, "I do hope you behave yourself. Come, Shal...let us go and have a brother-sister stroll around the premises."

"I believe I like the sound of that, Thel, my little Ch'an-brother," Shal agreed, "I'm sorry, Lel—I hope the Commander is not too troublesome for you to manage on your own."

Before Lel could protest, Thel and Shal had left.

"You'd better behave yourself, Shran," Lel told him firmly, "I may be a Zhen, but I have been taught defensive strategies to combat over-eager admirers."

"I'm not so mad as to try to take advantage of you, Lel," Shran countered hastily, "I just wanted to have an opportunity to talk with you—that's all."

"No, Shran, that's not all," Lel said "I could feel you gawking at me the whole time we were involved in the negotiations."

"Lel," Shran said softly, "I'm sorry for my 'gawking' at you during the talks. I have been entranced by your beauty since I first met you yesterday at the protest. I know you will probably reject my request, but is there any chance of your speaking with the Cyclopians and the Triars on my behalf, to get them to simply drop this whole thing? We could pay reparations to them—we would be as generous as we could. And, I have already signed the non-aggression treaty with Chief Zyzz. We have shown ourselves willing to work with you! Besides, I'm sure that all of you would like to be rid of me...keeping me here on the station for a prison sentence would be a pain in the backside for all of you, just as Thel said."

"Shran," Lel replied, "Before you proceed too much further with your attempt to seduce me into supporting your release, I should disclose to you that Chief Zyzz has chosen me to speak as the Cyclopians' Defender. Hoshi did not think that she could both defend and translate, so I am the Chief's next choice. In other words, I will be prosecuting you, Thy'lek Shran."

Shran stared at her in shock.

"So I suppose," Shran responded when he had recovered somewhat from his surprise, "that I can expect no mercy from you, Ra'Lel Zh'Soar?"

"Expect what you will, Shran," she told him, "But I will be trying my utmost to have you convicted. I don't think that warrants a dinner invitation, do you? I will leave you alone now to consider your plight."

Lel turned and left Shran alone in the apartment. He put his head in his hands, feeling utterly deflated. He had no choice but to beg Archer to be his Defender. He felt certain that if anyone could negotiate a light sentence for him, Archer could...but he would need to be offered something important if there was to be any possibility of him agreeing to accept the role.

As he searched his mind for something that he could offer Archer, the door opened and his Chief Engineer, Ka'Jel, walked in.

"What is this, Commander Shran?" Ka'Jel asked, obviously in shock, "Thel told me that _you_ are now on trial instead of him!"

"That is correct, Ka'Jel," Shran admitted, "I'm just working up the will to shove my pride down low enough to contact Archer and ask him to be my Defender."

"Shran!" Ka'Jel exclaimed, "You don't need Archer to defend you! Come with me this instant, and we will take Thel and Shal back to the ship. Enough of this foolishness with the weak little One-Eyes! We will put our weapons on-line immediately and we will bust our way out of this territory."

"We can't do that, Ka'Jel!" Shran told him wearily, "We need to maintain good relations with these people in order to access the wealth of minerals and other technological goodies that they have to offer. Besides, I gave my word of honor _as a Commander_ to Captain Cha'Kaya of the _Tr'oon_ that I would not put my weapons back on-line as long as none of their vessels fired at us. None of them have."

"They have fired at us by demanding your arrest, Shran!" Ka'Jel objected, "It was bad enough that they tried to manipulate little Thel into standing trial—but our very own Commander...it is an outrage! Jagar, Cha'Kaya, and Cha'Kal all deserve to be taught a lesson after what they have permitted the Cyclopians to do."

"We do, huh, Ka'Jel?" the sound of Cha'Kal's voice wafted into the room as the door closed behind him. Shran looked in the direction of the door and saw both Cha'Kal and Archer enter the room.

"Yes, you do, you great fur-bear!" Ka'Jel snarled, "I hold you and Jagar accountable for allowing this travesty against the crew of the _Kumari._ We took our weapons off-line in good faith!"

"Yeah, Ka'Jel, you're right," Cha'Kal replied in a sarcastic tone, "There's nothing like accountability. We're accountable to you, but how dare we suggest that your Commander be held accountable for the mistreatment of those rotten little Cyclopians."

"I understand, Shran," Archer said, ignoring Cha'Kal and Ka'Jel's banter, "That you want me to defend you."

"That's right, Archer," Shran responded hopefully, "I will return the favor, I make a vow to you that I will..."

"To be honest, Shran, when I heard that Chief Zyzz wanted me to defend you, just as I was going to defend Thel, my answer was an outright 'no'. Everything that I had been preparing for Thel's defense falls apart if I apply it to you. Thel advocated for the Cyclopians, but you ignored his warnings and brushed aside the concerns of these beings as though they were bothersome animals. How can I in good conscience defend that?"

"Don't defend my behavior, Archer, just defend me. You know the Imperial Guard won't let me stay. This could cause an interstellar incident, and the Andorian fleet may come out here to demand my release. I'm sure you wouldn't want that, Cha'Kal?"

"Wouldn't be my first choice," Cha'Kal replied, "But what I want isn't important. What's important is seeing to it that the Cyclopians get some kind of justice."

Shran decided to turn his attention to Archer. He had been considering what he might offer Archer, and an idea had come to him...although it was a risky one.

"Archer," Shran said to him in a conspiratorial manner, "If you won't do it for friendship, I might be able to make it worth your while to defend me. I know for a fact that Vulcans have not been among your favorite people in the past...that they held back your peoples' advancement into space. In particular, you despise Soval, the Vulcan Ambassador to Earth, for delaying the development of your father's first warp-five capable engine for so long that he died before his dream was realized. We can help you get revenge upon Soval...by having our government demand his arrest. After all, he was also responsible for failing to disclose information about the spy station at P'Jem, which was being used to spy on Andoria. We could make a case that he should be turned over to us for trial and conviction."

Archer stared at Shran, frowning.

"Shran, you have got to be kidding," he finally said, "As much as I dislike Soval and his paternalistic attitude towards Earth, I am not going to endanger all the work that my superior, Admiral Forrest, has done to further cooperation between Vulcans and Humans. You must think I am some kind of a barbaric moron, that I would turn even my enemy Soval over to the Andorian Imperial Guard, which would undoubtedly beat and torture him. Don't you dare even suggest to Earth authorities that I had _any_ kind of interest in asking you to perform such a rotten deed. T'Pol would kill me, for one thing. And for another, I've been busting my butt all day long to try to convince Ajala Nair and her followers that Earth people aren't barbarians anymore. Defending you, let alone allowing a respected diplomat to be turned over to you and your minions, may kill any chance we've got of establishing better relations with these people."

"And besides, Shran," Cha'Kal added, "You guys already had the opportunity to torture me and Soval a number of years ago. He's been through the 'Andorian Ringer' so to speak, and he might even have grounds to suggest the arrest of a few Andorians in response."

"All right, all right," Shran replied irritably, "If you won't accept my most generous offer to punish Soval for everything he's done to hold your fellow Pink-Skins back, Archer, then I have no choice but to ask you, as a friend, to please defend me. Please, with Andorian Ice-Milk on it."

"You can explain to Ajala that Zyzz specifically asked you to do this. I think she'd understand," Cha'Kal suggested to Archer.

Shran was surprised that the big Fur-Bear was speaking on his behalf, but he was nonetheless grateful for any help he might receive from any direction.

"I'm not sure about that, Ambassador," Archer answered, "She's a pretty tough customer to convince. I just spent the last little while wining and dining her, and I don't think she was terribly impressed by my efforts. She still doesn't really trust us, and my defending Shran will only underline that mistrust."

"It sounds to me as if you've had as much luck with love as I have, Captain," Shran commented, to Archer's intense annoyance.

"I don't know about you and Lel, Commander, but with Ajala and I it's been strictly business. She'd have kicked my butt from the _Enterprise_ back to the station if I'd been anything other than considerate and appropriate."

"Yes, exactly," Shran replied, "Not much luck. She already has a low opinion of you, Captain. Defending me can't bring it any lower, can it? Not if you're starting at ground-level low opinion."

"I'm glad to hear you have such a _high_ opinion of my diplomatic skills, Shran," Archer answered sardonically.

Shran noticed that Cha'Kal had stepped back a few paces and was speaking into his communicator. He returned to them with the communicator open.

"Here she is, guys," Cha'Kal offered, "I contacted her through my diplomatic channel. Why don't you ask her, Captain?"

"What's this about you defending that blue barbarian, Archer?" Ajala demanded.

"I was asked to do it by Chief Zyzz," Archer explained, "But I can tell her 'no', if you feel it is inappropriate for me to defend him."

"What I feel is immaterial, Captain," she responded, "If Chief Zyzz has asked you to defend Shran, then of course you should honor her request. And as for inappropriateness...I think it is perfectly appropriate for an Earth soldier like you to defend an Andorian one."

"But...I keep telling you, Ajala, I'm _not_ an Earth soldier," Archer insisted, "I'm an explorer. And my world is not the way you think it is."

"Time will tell, Archer," Ajala responded, "I am willing to consider all that you have told me, but I can't say I'm quite ready to jump into your arms just yet."

"All I ask, Ajala," Archer implored her, "is that you do consider all that I've shown you aboard the _Enterprise._ There's no sense in resurrecting a dead war. Let's remember all that those terrible conflicts taught us, but let's leave it in the past where it belongs."

"Time will tell, my dear Jonathan," Ajala retorted, before signing out.

"Perhaps you were luckier in love than we thought you were, Archer," Ka'Jel commented, as Archer scowled.

"Well, Shran," the Captain growled, "It looks as though I have no choice but to defend you."

As Archer stalked out, Shran called to him, "Thank you, _my dear Jonathan!_ I love you, too!"

"Cute, Shran," Cha'Kal chortled as he followed Archer out the door, "Your trial should be ready to commence tomorrow."

As soon as Cha'Kal and Archer had left, Ka'Jel peered slyly at Shran.

"What devious plan have you and Tarah come up with this time, Ka'Jel?" he asked his engineer.

"Tarah and I had been conferring over a peaceful plan to help Thel, but we can just as easily apply it to you, Commander. I've been studying the Triarian transporter technology here in the Kyarr Library, and I think I have devised a way to make it work in conjunction with the Vulcan Transporter technology that we've been busy working into our systems over the past five months. The Vulcan system is very, very precise, and we can use it to beam people out of very specific locations to our ship..."

"It won't work, Ka'Jel," Shran interrupted, "Cha'Kal has told me that there's a specialized shielding all over this area and the court-room, to prevent the beaming-out of any prisoners, such as me."

"Yes, I know," Ka'Jel continued, "But we have learned something very interesting about the various forms of Triarian shielding. It works partly as a physical technology, but there is a mental component to it. It's as if mind and machine work together cooperatively on the Triarian vessels. It seems as if the Triars, or at least some of them, are highly telepathic. You don't have to be a telepath to use this technology, but I think it helps. The system is connected to the Captain's mind, as well as that of his crew. Shal has been reading up on it and she says that different mental states vibrate at a different level. When a Captain intends merely to shield his crew from death, he apparently vibrates at a higher level than when he intends to kill another ship's crew. When he intends benevolence towards another group of people and rescues them from harm, for example, his mental state vibrates at an even higher level. That is why the technology is incompatible with weapons...when you try to kill people, your vibratory rate is too low for the technology to work."

"I don't understand that," Shran admitted, "But it probably doesn't matter. It can't help to get me out of this mess, anyways."

"Perhaps it can," Ka'Jel confided in him softly, "If the crew of the _Kumari_ can all mentally vibrate at a high enough level to make this Triarian Transporter cut through the beam-shielding long enough to beam you out of the court-room tomorrow. I've found an old Tellarite who's willing to sell us one of these machines, and once we've installed it we'll all need to wear mind-links to connect us to it. Then, in order to penetrate the shielding around the court-room, we've got to collectively brim with love and positive thoughts towards you, Commander. It would have been easier to do that for Thel, but I think we can probably drum up enough loving-kindness towards you to get you through."

"Ka'Jel," Shran exclaimed in amazement, "That is the craziest thing I have ever heard you suggest. I had no idea you were a spiritualist."

"I'm not," he countered, "But I have a Zhen-sister who is, and she's told me something about how spirit-things work in the Universe."

"Well, go ahead and work on it if it will make you feel better, Ka'Jel," Shran told him, secretly pleased that his friend thought that the crew cared about him enough to be willing to try the odd plan, "But don't be too disappointed when it doesn't work. I think this will turn out to be as effective as our failed Orion cloaking technology."

"I believe I can make it work," Ka'Jel responded confidently, "But for your part, Shran, just remember to think loving thoughts of us, your dear and loyal crew. We can work out the raises and promotions you'll owe us later."

As Chief Engineer Ka'Jel left to work on his ludicrous plan, Shran sat back in one of the luxury arm-chairs and sent his wishes forth into the Universe. A few spirit-wishes could hardly make things worse, after all.


	9. Chapter 9: The Trial

12

 _ **The Andorians**_

 _ **Chapter Nine: The Trial**_

Shran sat silently beside Archer in the court-room. There were two large Triarian guards to the right and left of them, and the room had filled up with Cyclopians, Andorians, Vulcanians, and Humans. On the opposite side of the court-room sat the translator, Hoshi, with her bevy of One-Eyes hopping all over her. On their side of the room, he could see Thel, who every once in a while sent him a 'worried-but-supportive' look. He tried to return to Thel an air of confident reassurance, but in truth he was far from confident about the final verdict. Councilors Haddonek Marthkaen and Ajala Nair had entered the court-room, and they were both sending disapproving glances Shran's way.

 _They can kiss my blue backside,_ Shran thought angrily as he sensed their judgmental thoughts towards him.

"Shran," Archer whispered to him, "It would be helpful to my defense case if you could apologize to the Cyclopians...and showing a little remorse wouldn't hurt, either."

"They should apologize to me, Archer!" Shran hissed back angrily, "Putting me through this disgraceful spectacle...this is like being inside an Orion Fighting Arena, by Andor's Moon."

"Shran!"Archer shot back, "I need some cooperation from you, or I swear I'll swan out of this court-room like an offended ballerina!"

Shran had no idea what a 'ballerina' was, but he supposed it was some kind of dangerous Earth animal. At any rate, he did not want to offend his only Defender.

"Very well, Captain," he conceded, "I'll apologize and express my deep shame and remorse to the One-Eyes. Just tell me when, and I'll do it."

Archer nodded, rustling through some old-fashioned paper notes that he had scribbled out hurriedly. The Human Captain had not been given much time to prepare his defense, and he had been obliged to scramble together the best argument that he could, given the circumstances.

The Commander and Law-Giver of the Kyarr Station, Jagar, came strolling into the room to sit on a large stool at the front. There were no desks or benches, but there were many statues of the ten-armed Alien Guardians of the Star Portals in this place, as there were throughout the station. Judge Jagar was a jet-black, portly Triar who was even rounder in the belly than Cha'Kal. He had put on his white-and-blue Judge's robe for the occasion, and he looked out regally at the rest of the people. Every once in a while, he would shake his head vigorously, and his fat ursine jowls would flap back and forth. Ambassador Cha'Kal was right behind him, and sat on a smaller stool beside him with a pen and notepad in his paws. Shran supposed that Cha'Kal was serving as some kind of Court Records-Keeper. It seemed that the Triars preferred to use traditional means of keeping records in situations like these, which seemed a trifle inefficient to the Andorian Commander.

"Court," cried out Jagar in a regal manner, "Is now in session. For the purposes of this court, you will now address me as 'Judge Jagar' and not "Commander" or "Law-Giver". We are here today to hear two sides to a very tragic occurrence in which one larger and more powerful group of people kidnapped, detained, and beat the people of a smaller, weaker, and less powerful group..."

"Nothing like an unbiased judge, eh, Archer?" Shran whispered to his Defender, "I think it's safe to say that I can bid my blue buttocks good-bye."

"Shut up, Shran!" Archer whispered back fiercely, "Let me concentrate or I'll make fools of both of us. According to Triarian legal procedure, I've only got one chance to make an argument of defense for you. There's no jury, and I can't call any character witnesses, apparently."

"That's good," responded Shran, "Because there were no real witnesses to the crime, besides my crew members."

Archer did not reply, but only rustled through his notes nervously. He was not normally a nervous person, but Shran knew that he was trying his best to launch a successful defense on his behalf in spite of his misgivings about it. He was going to owe Archer several favors after this, win or lose.

When the Judge had finished his preamble, hypocritically urging the assembled trial-watchers to listen to the Andorians' side of the story with an unbiased ear, Archer was asked to rise.

"Defender Archer, are you ready to present your case in favor of the accused, Thy'lek Shran?" Judge Jagar asked.

"Uh...yes, Your Honor," Archer began, but was interrupted by Jagar.

"In Triarian court, I am to be addressed only as 'Judge Jagar'. No other titles are allowed. Is that clear, Defender?"

"Yes, Judge Jagar," Archer conceded, "I apologize for the lapse in protocol...and for any and all mistakes that I may make as I present my case. I must admit that I did not have a great deal of time to research Triarian legal conventions before I came to court today. I will try my best to defend the accused within my understanding of this court system.

"Before I begin, I would like to make an important distinction. In defending Thy'lek Shran, I am defending the honorable person that I believe Shran to be, and not his indefensible behavior in ordering the kidnapping, detention, and beating of eight Cyclopian prisoners. Such behavior cannot and should not be tolerated by those of us who consider ourselves to be civilized beings. I would like to point out, however, that many of the people that are assembled here today are pacifists, and do not necessarily have a full understanding of the Andorian military culture. Thy'lek Shran, who was born under the clan name Hravishran th'Zhoarhi, is a member of the Andorian race. He was born into a clan full of warriors, and has therefore been raised in a culture which honors the warrior. Andorians have four genders—thaan, ch'an, shen, and zhen. Thy'lek is a member of the _thaan_ gender, which is known on his world as one of the most aggressive genders. Thaan-males are the obvious group from which to recruit soldiers to defend the Andorian society, along with their sisters-in-arms, the Shen-females. Because of this, Thy'lek knew from an early age that he would one day become a Warrior for the top military organization on Andoria, the Andorian Imperial Guard. As such, he was taught as a young cadet to live by what many of us would consider a very severe military code of conduct. In the Andorian Imperial Guard, disobeying a direct order can result in the execution of an officer, depending upon the severity of the consequences of the disobedient act. A medical doctor, such as Ra'Thel ch'Soar, would have very little if any power in such a military structure, and would be bound to obey his Commanding officer or face possible torture and death...and possibly, his direct family members would face the same thing as a result of his disobedience.

"Although in Thel's case, we can see very clearly that he has little choice in how his superiors go about their business, it is more difficult to see the same thing in Thy'lek Shran's case because he is a senior officer in one of the most powerful military organizations on his world. However, Commander Shran does answer to his own set of superiors, many of whom believe that intense aggression is the only way to keep the home-world safe. There are within the Imperial Guard many who advocate torture and beating as a means of extracting important information from people, and it is used not only on outsiders such as the Cyclopians and the Triars, but also on its own soldiers. In Thy'lek's case, he was once tortured and beaten as a young officer for disobeying a direct order to kill a small group of Klingon mothers and children who were fleeing their own government and who ended up settling on an Andorian colony world by mistake. Thy'lek not only let them go but also directed them to a world that was outside of Andorian jurisdiction and which would be safer for them. He was subsequently detained, beaten, and tortured by the Imperial Guard for performing this act of honor and compassion. He was later given an opportunity to 'redeem' himself by engaging in battle with an Orion fleet, and he was able to earn his way back into favor within the Imperial Guard.

"Another such incident occurred more recently when the now-senior officer, Commander Shran, allowed an Orion pirate vessel to escape because there were children on board. His orders had been to destroy this vessel, which had been distributing illegal drugs and weapons. In this case, he was only reprimanded because of his higher standing within the Imperial Guard, and because he had shown his willingness to engage in other acts of violence upon vulnerable people—such as the Cyclopians, or the Triarian Ambassador, Cha'Kal. He has also been known to beat a certain Human, who will of course remain anonymous. Anyone who has studied the history of the Andorian-Vulcan relationship will know that the Vulcans have also been on the Imperial Guard's 'hit-list', as Andoria is on the Vulcan High Command's. Each one has its own reasons for mistrusting the other, and so a need arises to protect their respective vulnerable populations. Let us not pretend that the Andorians are the only militaristic culture in the Universe—even we Humans of Earth cannot claim perfect freedom from the criminal past of our military dictatorships.

"What I am attempting to argue, gentlebeings of the court, is not that any of these past incidents justify Shran's treatment of the Cyclopians. I am simply trying to remind those of us who come from 'civilized' societies that it is easier to behave ethically when one has been fortunate enough to be raised in a culture which values freedom and the rights of others than it is if one is forced to operate within a structure such as the Imperial Guard, which rewards acts of violence as being "strong" and punishes acts of compassion as being "too weak". I would like you to consider these factors as you all make your judgments about Thy'lek Shran; and, I would ask you also to imagine yourself as belonging to an organization such as the Imperial Guard, just for a moment. Would you still be willing to perform the ordinary acts of compassion that a free society takes for granted when you knew that it would be punishable by death—perhaps even the death of your own family members? This is the kind of militaristic society that Thy'lek Shran was born into, not just for an imaginary moment but for an entire lifetime. He has shown in his past military record, which I have made publically available for anyone who wants to peruse it, that he has been willing to go against the grain to perform compassionate and honorable acts, at the risk of his own life. Would we, in his situation, have shown the same degree of courage? I ask you to look at his actions through this lens, if only for a brief moment in time. Thank you, Judge Jagar and assembled gentlebeings of the court, for hearing my argument."

As Archer sat down, Shran stared at him, astounded. When he had provided Archer with his military and personal records, he never dreamed that the Human Captain would have such insight into his personal value system, which he preferred to keep private. Archer had obviously been reading up on Andorian military society, even if he did not altogether understand that the Imperial Guard and its like-minded branches did not control Andoria, but rather served it on bended knee. Andorian society was too complex to simply write it off as a military dictatorship, but Shran knew that it would not be to their advantage to inform the court of that. He had an uneasy feeling, however, that Ra'Lel Zh'Soar was getting ready to make her rebuttal of Archer's argument.

Indeed, Lel had already stepped to the front of the room, brimming with indignation.

"Well!" she exclaimed sarcastically after Judge Jagar had given her leave to speak, "I suppose after hearing about all of those compassionate acts that Thy'lek Shran has performed, we are to give the Commander a medal instead of trying him! I'm sorry, Defender Archer, but I cannot for a minute buy your flimsy defense. I, too, was born into the Andorian society, and I know many thaans and shens who were also born into it. Those thaans and shens did not choose the path of conduct that Shran has, even when it meant that their lives and the lives of their families were at risk. Andoria is not a simple-minded military dictatorship as Archer has suggested, but rather is a multi-faceted society with many aspects to it. The ch'ans and zhens, the so-called 'less aggressive' genders on my former world, have created many organizations dedicated to finding peaceful solutions to our conflicts, and we have among our members many ex-military people who joined out of disgust for what the Imperial Guard does in the name of protecting the people of Andoria. Shran would tell you that the Imperial Guard only serves to protect its gentle people, but that is a lie. The military branches of our government seek to exert increasing power over the lives of its citizens. That is why so many people of peace have fled Andoria and come to Kyarr. But the Imperial Guard is not Andoria's only political voice; The Andorian Council of Citizens speaks with the voice of a different kind of power, and it has shown itself willing to use that power in order to curb the Guard's militaristic excesses.

"Defender Archer argues that Shran has no choice but to act as he does because he or his family may face fatal consequences. That may or may not be true, depending upon the individual circumstance. What is definitely true, however, is that Thy'lek Shran ordered his crew to kidnap, detain, and beat a group of eight Cyclopians who had done nothing to harm Andorians. Are we to ignore that because he once or twice showed mercy to a group of children who were his intended kill targets? Most decent Andorians would expect him to show mercy in those circumstances—we act as though he is a hero through the mere act of restraining himself from slaughtering innocents. _An Andorian who actually shows mercy!_ We should make a statue of him! As an Andorian myself, I find that inference insulting. Archer argues that our people are so morally corrupt and stupid that we have no idea that beating and bullying weaker beings is wrong!

"Well, I'm sorry, Defender Archer. I'm afraid that I can't go along with your argument. I argue that Andorians are fully aware of what they're doing, and they have as much capacity as any Human, Triar, or Vulcan to make moral choices. Thy'lek Shran chose to order the beating of the eight Cyclopians, and he should be punished for it...end of argument."

Shran looked around and saw many people of the assembled court nodding in agreement. Archer's brilliant defense was suddenly losing its shine in comparison to Lel's no-nonsense approach.

"Thanks, old friend," he whispered to Archer, "You tried your best, but I think we just got fried."

"It's not over yet, _old friend_ ," Archer reassured him, "You are allowed to make an apology at the end of the arguments. I think it's time now for you to apologize, big-time."

Shran sighed heavily, giving Archer a look of tormented resignation.

"Very well," he said, standing reluctantly as in the manner of a scolded schoolboy.

"Commander Shran has something he'd like to say to the Cyclopians," Archer announced.

"Yes," Shran stated after Jagar gave him his nod of approval, "I would like to apologize to you, Cyclopians. I would like to apologize for my behavior towards you, and for what I ordered my crew to do to you. I am very sorry, and remorseful. I was a fool. I don't expect you to forgive me, but...you can if you like..."

Archer was hitting Shran in the side, surreptitiously urging him to put more sincerity into the apology.

"Cyclopians!" Shran began again, "I am very, very sorry. I mean this from the depths of my soul. I especially direct this apology to the eight One-Eyes that we beat up. If I could re-make my original decision to have you beaten up, I wouldn't make it. I wouldn't make the decision to beat you up again, I mean. I'm sorry, I'm ashamed, and I promise I won't do it again if you'll just let me return to my vessel one last time."

Shran sat down again, and Archer gave him an exasperated look.

"Are you telling me that's the best that you can do, Shran?" he asked.

"What more do you want, Captain?" Shran growled, "Do you want me to lick the dirt off the floor?"

"No!" Archer growled back, "I want you to stop trying to make last-minute deals for freedom and start sounding like you mean what you say...not like you've been caught with your hand in the cookie jar, and you're being forced to apologize by your mother!"

"I'm sorry, Court," Shran attempted to apologize once more, "My Defender informs me that I sound like I've been forced to apologize by my mother. Perhaps I have. From my perspective, this is all silly, because I've been beaten many times and I don't think it's been that much of a problem for me. I feel that you're weak, Cyclopians, for getting so upset about such a minor thing. It's not like we were torturing you—we knew you'd never survive that. So, we made the next best decision, and decided to let you off with a beating."

"Shran!" Archer yelled, standing up, "That's it! I'm quitting as your Defender!"

"Well, there you have it, Judge Jagar!" Lel cried triumphantly, "Shran's Defender has abandoned him, because Shran has shown his true nature. He's not sorry for what he did—he's sorry that he's been held to account for it! I move for a court vote. All those in favor of giving Shran the maximum sentence, hands up!"

As Shran looked behind him, he saw that the entire assembly had their hands up. He realized that he had been a complete fool to express his "genuine" sentiments about the whole affair.

"That's marvelous," Archer muttered, "No jury, just a show of hands from the spectators. Thanks for the help and cooperation, Shran!"

"All right!" Jagar bellowed, as the court-room broke into angry jeers and cat-calls towards Archer and Shran, "That's enough. I think I'm ready to make my judgment now, after having carefully considered the evidence that's been given to me—including the doctor's report, the Law Enforcement report, the Diplomatic report, and the Translator's report. I've had an opportunity to read them all before coming to court and hearing your outrageous arguments, moral lectures, and apologies. I truly do not know why we Triars bother with these ridiculous court proceedings at all.

"This, then, is my determination. I would like to call upon Tyrrilliakk of the ten-armed Jolans to enter the room."

To Shran's utter dismay, an orange-and-blue floating blob of arms sailed into the court-room, and stopped across from where he and Archer sat. It had some kind of a computer-band around its large, bulbous head, which looked as though it might be some kind of a translation device.

"I am Tyrrilliakk," the being said through the device, "And I am your Portal's Guardian, Thy'lek Shran. I believe that, according to my scan of Jagar's mind, the court has just given you a prison sentence of thirty Kyarrian years. I also know from your Chief Engineer's exceedingly loud thought-broadcasts that your crew is at this moment trying to reach the proper vibrational level which will allow them to..."

Shran felt his vision becoming fuzzy. Surely...Ka'Jel's idiotic beam-out plan could not be working? Before he could stop himself from thinking that particular thought, he began to hear the furious stomping of the Cylopians, accompanied by their translator, Hoshi. The sound had begun slowly and was continuing to rise in volume until it had filled the room. Then, slowly, it began to fade into a buzzing sound as the court-room began to disappear. The last thing that he saw was Thel rushing towards him, waving his arms and shouting his name.

"Good-bye, my friend," he called with his mind-voice, as the transporter beam swept him away.


	10. Chapter 10: Return to Andoria!

7

 _ **The Andorians**_

 _ **Chapter Ten: Return to Andoria!**_

Shran felt himself re-materializing on the bridge of the _Kumari._ He felt disoriented for a moment, looking around him at the faces of his familiar crew-mates. He could hardly believe that he was here, and yet somehow Ka'Jel had managed to work a miracle. The miracle would do them no good, however, if Shran was re-captured by the Triarian authorities. He knew that if they wanted to get out of this jam, that they had better make a run for it, and so he ordered Tholos to back out of the Kyarr space-dock slowly.

"Commander," Tholos responded, "There is no space-dock to back out of. There is no space station. We are..."

Tholos' voice trailed off, as he checked and re-checked his navigational instruments.

"Commander—we are back in Andorian territory! We are lightyears away from our original starting point at the mouth of the Star Portal. In fact, Andor and its moon are not far from us. How did this happen?"

"Cha'Kal had said something about a Vulcan Captain being instantaneously sent home with his ship and crew because he took the weapons back on-line..."

"But we do not yet have our weapons back on-line, Commander!" Talas exclaimed, "Ka'Jel and I are working on it, though."

"Put them back on as soon as you can, Talas," Shran ordered.

He suddenly had the feeling that he and the crew were not alone on the bridge. He turned his head slowly and saw, to his amazement, the floating Jolan creature named Tyrrilliakk. It moved very close to Shran, and he could see that it had dozens and dozens of little eyes which circled around its head.

"What do you want?" Shran asked it anxiously, "Are you here to arrest me?"

"No," Tyrrilliakk answered him through the tinny voice of its translation head-band, "I am here to give you your sentence. We, the Guardians, have taken over your judgment, at Jagar's request..."

Shran realized that Talas had suddenly run up to the Jolan and had put a phaser to its head.

"Talas, put down your weapon at once!" Shran ordered, "These beings are exceedingly powerful. If it had wanted to harm me, it could have easily destroyed our entire vessel."

Talas put down her weapon reluctantly. Shran motioned to her to get back to her post. He would not be surprised if the Jolan was wearing a personalized shield of some kind...which meant that it might have some "back-firing" ability if fired upon with a weapon.

"I'm sorry, Tyrrilliakk," Shran apologized, "My officer was only trying to defend me..."

"We are here," the Jolan replied, sounding now as though it was speaking with many voices, "To give you your sentence, Thy'lek Shran. We are all here with Tyrrilliakk, and we have decided that you are no longer welcome to return to Kyarr, for a period of thirty of your years. That is to be your punishment, and we apply it to the rest of your crew as well, since they aided your escape from the Triarian justice-court."

"But what about my medical officer, Thel?" Shran asked, fearful of the answer, "And his Shen-sister, Shal?"

"Shal returned to the ship before the trial, Commander," Talas called from her post, "She is safely on board."

Shran stared at the powerful creature in front of him, mentally and emotionally beseeching it to allow Thel to return.

"We see, Shran," the Jolan voices continued, "That you do not love Thel as you think you do. We can look into the sacred _Now,_ which is made up of past, present, and future at the same time, and we know that you have often bullied and intimidated him into performing tasks which were against his conscience. We therefore are granting Thel sanctuary aboard the Kyarr Station, for a period of up to two years. We are suggesting to him in the present moment that he take the time to heal himself spiritually. He will then be free to return to your ship, if he wishes. We will contact you at that time, and we will return him through the vessel of the Triar, Captain Cha'Kaya of the _Tr'oon._ "

Shran's heart sank in disappointment. He knew that he owed Thel this two-year vacation after everything he had done to get him in trouble with the Cyclopians and the Triars. He resolved to grant the ch'an doctor a "leave of absence due to mental illness", which would allow for him to take a two-year break from his service contract with the Imperial Guard.

"Very well," Shran agreed, "I believe that is what Thel would like to do, and I will simply have to trust that the Triars will not permit the Cyclopians to have him arrested again."

"The Cyclopians have been informed of our decision," the Jolans told him, "and they are content for you and your crew to be banned from the Star Portal for the next thirty years. They have made a decision to forgive Thel for his part in permitting the beatings, as they now realize that he had very little choice under your ruthless system."

"And what about Archer?" Shran asked, "Will he be banned as well, since he defended me?"

"No," the Jolans replied, "He and his crew are welcome to stay at Kyarr and build their relationship with the Kyarrian Humans on board the station. Archer and his crew will be staying there for several more weeks, at least. They are attempting to open formal relations between Triar and Earth."

"And I assume that Andoria's relationship with Kyarr is now in the toilet as a result of all this?"

"No," the Jolans answered, "Each group of Andorians who come to the Star Portal will be evaluated separately, based upon their conduct. We would recommend that next time, the Andorian Commander be informed of the behavioral expectations ahead of time. We ask that he or she request admission, and wait patiently for the answer. We ask that, before entry, the Commander take the weapons system off-line. We ask that both Commander and crew behave at all times in a respectful manner towards the inhabitants of Kyarr station. If these simple rules are followed, we may yet recommend to the Triars that they establish formal relations with Andoria. Our quest is, after all, peace in the Universe—a peace which is in fact, already here. It only takes beings such as yourself to realize it, Thy'lek Shran."

"Thank you, Tyrrilliakk," Shran said, not sure how to address the individual who seemed to be speaking with a collective voice, "You and your compatriots have been most fair to us. We accept all of your conditions, of course. Is this all the punishment that you intend to give me?"

"We do not wish to punish you, Thy'lek," Tyrrilliakk replied softly in the voice of one individual now, "But we want you to understand."

Suddenly, Shran felt himself being pummeled and punched, as if by a thousand arms...and he realized that those arms did not belong to the Jolans, but rather to himself. He felt an intense, searing pain throughout his whole body, and he simultaneously felt the terror of every being that he had beaten, detained, or tormented during his service to the Imperial Guard. It was as if he was living a life-time of this torment, and yet the entire experience had ended within a couple of seconds. Shran stared at Tyrrilliakk in horror. He was no longer in pain, but the feeling of the One-Eyes' bruises was still felt within himself, as though he had his own spiritual bruise. It was as if their experience had melded with his, and he could no longer look at it with the same detachment as he had at the trial. He was flooded with a deep sense of shame for what he had permitted to be done to the small beings, and this time his feeling was genuine. He realized that he had been holding a great deal of remorse within himself for a very long time, and that he now needed to release it.

"All right, Tyrrilliakk," he murmured to the Jolan, lowering his head, "I get your point. I promise to you that I am going to try to do things differently in the future...to the extent that I can within the Imperial Guard, that is."

"You are stubborn, Thy'lek," Tyrrilliakk responded, caressing him with one of its tentacles, "But we love you nonetheless. Understand that any act that you perform on another, you perform upon yourself. We see that you will one day find a deeper love-companion to help you with all of this. She will be a zhen, and you will meet her only after everything that you presently value has been taken away from you. And when that day comes, know that you may count upon your friend, Jonathan Archer, to help you."

"Well—that's comforting, at least," Shran replied, not sure whether to feel disturbed by Tyrrilliakk's predictions, or reassured, "I take it that the zhen lover in question will not be Lel?"

"No," the Jolan answered, "It will not be Lel."

"No, I didn't think so," Shran said sadly, "I don't need a ten-armed soothsayer to tell me that!"

Within the blink of an eye, the Jolan named Tyrrilliakk was gone. There was no de-materialization effect...the alien simply vanished.

Shran stared ahead of himself, attempting to process the experience that he had just undergone with the Jolan creatures. Obviously, they were not beings to be trifled with, and he intended to obey their dictates to the letter. He also resolved to warn the Imperial Guard against torturing any inhabitants of Kyarr...and possibly banning torture altogether, if his superiors were willing to listen.

The crew was staring at him, as if mesmerized by what had just occurred. They too seemed affected by what he had suffered; although they said nothing, he sensed that they had gone through the many horrific torture sessions with him in that one terrible instant of retribution. He breathed deeply for a moment, and then sat up in his command chair proudly.

"Navigator Tholos," he ordered, "Plot a course straight for the Home Moon. It's time to return to Andoria!"


End file.
